Sammy Keyes and the Worst Case Scenarios
by handidandi
Summary: I finally managed to change the title. Still Post Dead Giveaway. May have spoilers. Sammy Keyes and her friends have lied and squiggled their way through seventh grade. When more lies and secrets are found, more than one innocent life is at stake.
1. One: Prologue

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Sammy Keyes whatsoever. It belongs to Wendelin Van Draanen and I am only using the characters for a nonprofit story, only for the enjoyment of fans of the Sammy Keyes Series.

**Author's note:** My second stab at a fanfic. My first at Sammy Keyes. By the time I get this thing up, it will be in the top ten very first Sammy Keyes fanfic. Enjoy all fans of this wonderful book series.

**Story Title:**

**Chapter 1 **

Everyone thinks I'm a trouble maker. Fact is, trouble goes around looking for me. Just when I least suspect it, someone else is in trouble and it's up to me to butt my nose in it and solve it before the Borsch man does it. And do I ever get an ounce of thank you? Nope, I'm still a snot nosed seventh grader to everyone. Well, I'm here to prove them wrong, 'cause everything's about to change.

Okay, not _every_thing. I still live with grams in her Senior High-rise building, adjacent to the "lavish" Heavenly Hotel. I still own three pairs of high-tops, one black, one blue and one white. And I still go to William Rose Junior High, while trying to outbeat my enemy Heather Acosta in her own ways to defeat _me_. But the only thing that has changed for me is that I am now officially a snot nosed _eighth_ grader. That's right, an eighth grader at William Rose Junior High. Little did I know more than that were about to change for me.

* * *

I was staying over at Marissa's house for the first couple of days of school. Hey, it's not my fault Marissa went all over town looking for her new beloved hamster (her mother finally agreed to one lonesome pet and that is what she chose). You won't _believe_ where we ended up. At the police station.

"Young ladies, where do you think you're going?" Officer Borsch had asked us before he realized it was us.

"Uh," Marissa started, doing her famous McKenze dance. "My hamster got loose Officer Borsch sir."

Right then, my head snapped up. I was in the middle of tying my shoelace when Marissa says "Officer Borsch." Then, my poor head flew up and butted Borsch man right in his pudgy stomach. He let out an "oomph!" as I rubbed my head from its sudden collision.

"Hey you! Watch what you're doing next time!" he said. I took one look at him and him of me and did a double take. "Miss Sammy Keyes," he addressed me oh-so formally. He sucked at being sarcastic while trying to be sincere while holding his tongue. That feigned niceness feigning sarcasm was about as noticeable as I was last Halloween when I was the Marsh Monster.

"Officer Borsch," I addressed with the same amount of sarcasm he mustered a while ago.

"Well?" he asked, waiting for an explanation from the both of us.

"We... we were... we were um..." Marissa couldn't quite explain herself to the likes of him. So I took over, "Marissa's hamster got loose and we had to chase it for a while."

"And it landed you here?" he asked us.

Gulp. Yes, it did. But telling him that was like telling him that me and Marissa weren't sisters after all. Wasn't believable. Not at the moment it wasn't, seeing how Marissa and I fooled him earlier last school year and we pretty much stuck to that crazy story.

Anyway, he'd think we were up to something. Telling him this was gonna make him launch into a story about how he needs not my snooping around in his business.

"We...we were... we were," Marissa sputtered again. I had to answer in her defense.

"We really weren't trying to get into trouble Officer Borsch. Her hamster's name is Speedy, can you tell why? So, Speedy led us _all_ the way down here. Honestly. If we had something to tell you, we would tell you. At least _I_ would tell you." I snuck a glance at Marissa while she still did the McKenze dance with little Speedy squishing and squirming in her hands.

He stares at us like he sees double of us then finally decides on his judgement. "I'm going to drop the both of you home and hope little Speedy, so you call him, won't get away again. How's that for a bargain?"

We nod feebly and gather in his squad car. I had to go back to Grams, but could I? Nope, I couldn't tell Borsch man how I'd been living illegally with my grandma in her senior citizen building. I had to stick to my story. So, off I went to Marissa house, which is where I had to call Grams from, and I had to spend the first couple of days of school before the coast was clear.

When I finally managed to let slumber overcome me, I seriously thought about what stories I had to make up just to get where I am today. I had much to find out about the more stories that everyone, including myself, had to hide and fumble with and twist around to make it suit us. Trust me, sticking to the truth is hard, but in the end, it will be well worth it.

* * *

That's chapter one. I hope you all enjoyed it. Many thanks for reading. I hope you will review now. Goodnight everyone. :) 


	2. Two: Back At School

**Disclaimer:** I own nada. Wendelin Van Draanen own these series, so don't go suing me. I use only for my own enjoyment and to relieve boredom.

**Author's Note: **This is the second chapter, I hope y'all like it.

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Waking up for the first day of school was a new thing for me. No, it wasn't like I was waking up for the first day of seventh grade all over again. It was me waking up for the first day of _eighth_ grade. I was waking up to be the standard type person that I warned myself not to try to become. Let me tell you, it sent weird shivers up and down my spine. It was my last year of being in William Rose Junior High, and it felt... I don't know, _weird_. 

I got up, got in the shower, got dressed, and ate breakfast with Marissa. As usual, Mikey was about up to destroy the tranquility that was established.

"Ooh, Marissa!" Mikey started, but it only took a fling of scrambled eggs that got Mikey scrambling to save himself.

"Stupid bugger," she mumbled quietly to herself. "Sooo," she added while turning to me. All I could do was push my eggs around. "Are you nervous?"

Now, her tone of voice sent another shiver down my spine. And, it wasn't what she had said either. It was _how_ she said it. She made it sound as if I was going on a date. "What?" I asked her simply.

"Are you nervous about starting eighth grade?" she asked me again.

I eyed her suspiciously. "Why should I be afraid to start stupid eighth grade? Knowing me, it'll probably be the exact same as seventh. See? No worries," I said, though my voice practically dripped with worry. I was _sorta_ nervous, but I didn't let it bother me. After all, I caught up with Casey during the summer and he told _me_ that Heather wasn't supposed to be a worry, because he knew that she changed schools.

"I don't know. I mean, _I_ have absolute bragging rights, _you_ have absolute bragging rights—" but I interjected before she could say another word.

"I have what?" I said while I accidently sent my poor scrambled eggs flying in her face.

"Bragging rights," she repeated herself so nonchalantly. I eyed her in suspicion again. "Really! I mean, you and I go with high schoolers. High _schoolers_!"

"What?" This time I was in complete shock.

"I go with Danny and you go with Casey, right?" Marissa asked me.

I eyed her still. "I so do _not_ go with Casey! You may have one, but I do _not_ have a high school boyfriend."

"And with that attitude, you won't get one," she mumbled. I picked up what was left of my eggs and flung it at her. "Hey!" she said while shaking her head to relieve the eggs stuck in it. I snickered as I cleared my plate and grabbed my skateboard.

* * *

Now, I would have had a jolly ol' good time on my skateboard trying to outbeat Marissa if I hadn't run into someone that I wasn't expecting to run into. And when I say run into, I didn't mean pass them silently until realizing who it was. I'm talking about _literally_ running into them. Fact is, it's extremely hard to stop on a skateboard if you are going at 100 miles an hour. So, as I tried to stop and give Marissa some kind of warning, I completely did a full 360 somersault in the air and landed right on top of that person. _Then_ Marissa stops her bike. 

"Ouch!" The person and I said as Marissa helped me up. One good look at the person and Marissa and I both did a double take, which was more like a quadruple take.

"Hey," he said as Marissa helped him up as well.

"Wow," we both said.

"How's it goin'?" he asked us.

All of a sudden, my heat began to speed up like it had absolutely no sense and my cheeks flushed a reddish color.

"Uh," I managed out while Marissa says, "pretty good."

"Uh," I said again. Marissa noticed my state of shock and elbowed me back to earth. "Hi Casey."

"Hey Sammy." He came closer and gave me a hug and a pat on the back. I was still in shock. Was this really Casey? He looked... different, _way_ different. I mean, he grew some inches and I could practically see his biceps and triceps poking out of his shirt. And the way he hugged me made me feel like... a bubbly eighth grader. Like a love struck eighth grader.

"Arg!" he said to me, which got me even more dazed than ever. Then, the words came out.

The 'I really like you a lot' words.

And that's what he said. Out of the blue, he goes, "I really like you Sammy. I mean, I've been thinking about you a lot during my summer at camp. I hope you don't mind that I told people about you."

I knew he had way more to say, but that's all I heard, because everything went fuzzy and I fainted. Clear out of the clear blue sky fainted.

* * *

"Sammy? _Sammy_!" I heard a voice calling to me. I woke up and everything began to focus around me. Wasn't this a sight to see? Marissa, Dot, Holly, and of course, Casey. 

"Huh? What happened?" I asked softly as Marissa passed me a cup of water.

"You fainted," Dot told me while Holly just blinked at me. Then I saw Casey staring at me. I couldn't help it, I stared straight back into his clear brown eyes.

"Oh?" I asked in confusion.

"Well, I don't know, you were looking kinda... spaced-out and then you fainted."

"That's all? No one said anything about liking me or anything?" I looked straight at Casey when I said this. He raised an eyebrow at me in return.

"Um, no," Marissa told me. "All Casey said was 'hi, how's going?' and then you said 'oh, I'm okay,' then you fainted. That's all."

I must have been dreaming. Was it just me, or did I really hear the 'I like you' statement come out of Casey's mouth? I know I was kinda spaced-out, but I wasn't going _crazy_. I know what I heard...sorta.

"Oh, uh..." I stammered. I must of looked bummed out because Marissa was giving me suggestive looks about me being bummed about Casey not saying how much he liked me. Her looks practically screamed 'You like Casey, don't you?'

"So... I wasn't hugged by _some_one?"

Holly, Dot and Marissa looked at me horrendously while Casey smiled at me. That's all he did, smiled. I shook my head in disbelief. Talk about a way to start eighth grade, huh?

"I did give you a pat on the back," Casey said through his cheesy old smile. I scowled in return.

Okay, in other words, the 'I like you' statement_ and_ the full on hug was made up? I didn't think so.

Before I could brood about it any longer, Casey grabbed his own skateboard and headed towards the door. "See ya Sammy!" he called out.

"Wow," was all Holly could say after a while.

"Wicked," Dot said.

"Weird," Marissa said.

"What?" I asked them.

"Casey actually _cares_," Dot told me as if that wasn't obvious to me, which it wasn't.

"He's nothing like Heather, I told you!" Marissa bragged in her 'I told you so' voice.

"Hard to believe that he _has_ a sister like Heather," Holly told me while helping me up.

"Yeah," was all I could say.

When I entered my new home room class, there was someone waiting for me, and it wasn't a pretty sight to see either.

Of all people, why her? Why me?

"Nice to see you again," she said sarcastically. "_Snot_ nosed _Sammy_!" She added while putting extra emphasis on that darn 'snot' and my name.

Ugh! Someone please! _Slaughter_ me!

* * *

That's chapter two. I now need reviews and feedback. I really do. Also, feel free to email me for ideas on how I can or should continue this story. And, I left a cliffy, evil me. Once I get some reviews (one would do me some justice), I can continue with my story. Until then, goodnight:) 


	3. Three: A Good Start?

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own the Sammy Keyes series. I really don't. If I was Wendelin Van Draanen, I would, but I'm not, so there.

**Author's Note: **Third chapter up. Might wanna take a look at that, eh?

**Chapter 3**

"Hello freak!" was the exact words of my hated enemy. All I could do was stare in shock.

"H-Heather?" I choked out.

"I see you had a good time with my brother, didn't you?" she sneered at me. I rolled my eyes in frustration.

Of all people, it had to be Heather that ruined my first day of school even further. First Casey practically accuses me of lying, then he actually _lied_ to me, now I have to deal with Heather? Wasn't she supposed to be living it up in London or something?

Great, just great. I wonder what will happen next.

"Too bad he doesn't like you. I told you he would realize what a geek you are. I told you he was only going out with you because he _so_ wanted to annoy me," she told me. I stood in the doorway looking mighty beaten as her cronies Tenille and Monet gathered around her like a mother hen protecting her flock.

If things couldn't get worse, Marissa, Dot, Holly and the rest of the class began to file in. And file in they did; I was knocked clear off my feet and practically trampled on.

Like I said before, slaughter me somebody.

I quickly got to my feet and rushed to a seat next to Dot.

"What's the matter Sammy, can't take the school year without dropping dead for my brother?" Heather taunted me as Tenille and Monet giggled out their laughs.

It wasn't regular giggle like mines and Marissa's, or Dot's, or Holly's. No, it sounded more like pigs squealing around in a pigsty.

Literally.

I was still feeling a little bit battered from that brutal trampling to insult Heather. Trust me, it woke me straight up.

"And you can't go _one_ minute without your lonesome piggish goons hanging around you every minute?" Holly started. This was the first time I remember Holly defending me from the hot-and-heavy red-head.

The class made a big fuss after some idiot shouted, "ooh, Heather got burned."

As if I was in desperate need of saving, our new home room teacher came in. Or should I say our _old _home room teacher came in.

"Mrs. Ambler?"

She gave us a small closed smile and said, "that's right. It's nice seeing you all again after the summer. I must say, you've all grown a lot during that time period."

One look at Heather and then Mrs. Ambler did her own double take. "What? What did _I_ do?" Heather asked oh-so innocently.

Gag me.

"I thought... I thought you were... I thought." Poor Mrs. Ambler, even _she_ was looking forward to a year without the pain of redhead shouting out, "stop it, or I'll sue you for slander!"

"We _all_ thought you weren't coming back," Cassie Kuo told her.

"Wow, that would have been much _pain_," I said with obvious sarcasm. I rolled my eyes and Marissa, Dot and Holly followed suit.

Heather gave a wicked catty smile. "I changed my mind. Some things weren't meant to be left alone." Then she glared right at _me_, like I had done something to her. Whatever.

"Okay, let's start with the pledge and then I'll make some announcements. Then we'll start on the ancient civilizations."

After we all finished the pledge and Mrs. Ambler made her announcements, she started teaching us new material for social studies. Great, just great. Could a day get any more worse?

Actually, it can. Blame Marissa and her big, floppy mouth.

* * *

After class finished, I was on my way to Miss Patil's room, who would teach us new math material. "Welcome," she said in a small, timid voice. Now I could tell, she was new at this and I felt sorry for her. The class could just walk over her like the pavement and use her like toilet tissue. But under all of that, she seemed... strict. I don't know, I could just tell these things. 

"Now, I am going to start the year with factorials," she said while she wrote an exclamation point on the board. "This sign, in your average English class, is an exclamation point. But here, in your average Math class, this is the factorial sign. What this means is..." was all I heard before I spaced out.

Next thing I know, I'm on the floor again while Marissa, Dot and Holly stared at me like I was a weirdo.

Marissa shifted a bit while doing the McKenze dance, Dot blinked a whole bunch and Holly's eyes sorta bugged out. "What's happening to you Sammy? I'm really worried," Dot says.

"It's obvious that she keeps thinking about her _boy_friend," some moronic kid says.

"I do _not_ have a boyfriend. At all," I spat and bolted up right. Turns out, Miss Patil was still teaching the class until I said the 'I don't have a boyfriend' part.

She whipped around and glared straight at _me_. "You interrupted this very important Math class just to say you don't have a _boy_friend?"

"N-no," I said. "I just—"

"That's quite enough, I'll speak to you after school. In detention."

Now, how could I possibly get _detention_? On a bright day like this? Worst, on my first day of _school_ and I get _detention_? Oy. What's next?

* * *

Class ended, finally! And I ran right into the Damsel in Distress herself. "What'd you do, eat too much dorky foods? Did you drink some of that stupid happy juice?" Her version of happy juice was your basic average alcohol beverage. 

I got steaming mad, but I didn't want anymore trouble on my hands. I've gotten detention just for _fainting_. Who know what I'll get for decking Heather Acosta in her face where she downright deserved it.

Fine, I had absolutely no time to deal with her.

"Heather, seriously, could you come up with anymore ridiculous remarks? I need to get to class and I'm already late." I said to her as calmly as I could muster. Trouble is, I had shake to my voice, which she read as 'I'm vulnerable, embarrass me unmercifully.'

That's exactly what she did as she and her goons surrounded me and held me hostage near the lockers, so I had no where to run. "Ooh, what happened Sammy? You're stuck or something?"

A big, gathering group started to surround us, expecting a chick fight. Just before things could get out of hand, Marissa pushes her way through the crowd, followed closely by Holly and Dot.

Gathering right in her face while wearing a bandana on her head, which made her seem older, Marissa came to my defense. "You've got issues with Sammy, then you've got issues with me and Dot _and_ Holly."

"OOH! What's Missy and her gang gonna do to me? Spit in my face or something?" Heather taunted her while she pushed and poked Marissa on the chest for a while. Marissa stood, boiling hot mad, I could tell.

But do you know what she did? She spat.

On Heather's face.

And Tenille's.

_And_ on Monet's face.

And guess what?

Tenille and Monet ran like cowards.

Then you know what else?

Marissa punched Heather.

Right in the kisser.

Where she deserved it.

Boy was it hilarious. But only for a second. Then Marissa and Heather went down and began fighting like homeless street cats, howling without a care in the world. Then Holly jumped in as Dot looked along in horror. I tried to break up the fight, but it was too much. Who knows where Marissa learned to punch, but I was darn glad she did too. For a split second.

And a punch landed me and poor Dot square in our faces too. We both went down and got tangled in this horror circle of trouble until Mr. Caan and Mrs. Ambler broke up the fight.

"You're just jealous that me and Sammy have high school boyfriends and you don't! And guess what? One of them is your brother! That's right, I said it. Your brother likes Sammy and they go out! And they've kissed before. More than can be said for you Heather!" Marissa spat as she was dragged down the hall with Mr. Caan.

What a blabbermouth!

Everyone stared at me. Not because of my blue turning black eye. But because of what Marissa just said. They all looked at me like, 'really, is that true?' Some looks even read, 'Sammy's been kissed by the infamous Casey Acosta?'

Oh, great. More trouble. And it's only the first day. Soon, I realized that it was only the start of my troubles.

* * *

After-school, I went right into Ms. Patil's room for detention. I immediately spotted Marissa, Dot, Holly and Heather already in there. Let me tell you, my heart skipped one too many beats. 

"Now, let's get everything settled right now," she said to us. This time, her voice sounded more brash than before, like she had some settled mucus down there. It sent chills down my entire body.

"Well," Marissa, started but was interrupted by Heather's crying. Why was she _crying_? She's the one that gave me the black eye and she sat there _crying_?

Whatever.

"M-Ms. Patil. M-Marissa started it. You can ask anyone, they'll tell you. She...s-s-she _pushed_ me first!" she explained while flinging tears from her eyes. I rolled my eyes while Holly shook her head in disbelief. We were all thinking the same thing, she was cheating her way through punishment.

Now, this isn't the first time Heather's faked her way though trouble. The first time made everyone think I was a juvenile delinquent. Which I am _not_.

"And then Holly hit me too!" she added.

Holly jumped right out of her seat, knocking it over in the process, and squared off in Heather's face. "That's a downright lie and you know it!" Holly screamed at Heather. "You _so_ pushed Marissa first. You know what? I regret not listening to Sammy in the first place about you. You are the sickest, vilest, most ridiculous person I've ever met in my life!" Soon, they were both squaring off in each other's face.

Like magic, Heather went from sad to huffing and puffing like a bull. Then you know what she does? She pushes Holly and comes charging at _me_.

No one but me.

Now, I said absolutely nothing during this whole thing and I was minding my own business and here she comes _running_ in her little click-clacking heels at me. I got up and simply moved to the side, which caused her to slip, slide and skid into a desk.

Serves her right.

But only as I was thinking that, Ms. Patil came charging at me also.

Grabbing me by my ear, she said, "I'm telling everyone about how disrespectful you are, you little trouble maker. I'm telling Mr. Caan on you!" I'm telling you, she sounded like such a little tattling kindergartner that I busted up completely.

There I was, laughing away while my ear is gettin' pretty toasty and everyone with the exception of Heather ogled at me. "What?" I asked through a fit of giggles while Heather is seriously bawling her eyes out. I didn't really care at the moment, so tug away lady.

She pulled me out of the classroom and straight for Mr. Caan's office. I could tell he didn't like being interrupted from his 'important' call to be bothering with this now. Wow.

"What is the problem this time ms. Patil?" Mr. Caan asked exasperatedly.

"This little girl— " Tug, tug, she pulled my ear. "Keeps making trouble with another girl in detention," she said to him. He glared at her as she glared at me. I just stared blankly at him.

Heaving a long and heavy sigh, Mr. Caan said, "thank you. I'll straighten this out very soon for you." She nodded her thanks and left the office.

Tick-tock-tick-tock. The time just seemed to fly by and not one word was said. Finally, after that long and awkward silence, Mr. Caan said, "what did you do this time Sammy?"

"All I did was sit down and mind my own business. Then Heather practically comes charging at me and I moved. It's not my fault that she got tangled in the chairs. And it's certainly not my fault, or Marissa, or Dot's_ or_ Holly's fault this whole mess started. Marissa was only defending herself from Heather and her friends and the rest of us got tangled in the fight." I took a deep breath and continued, "so, Mr. Caan, could you spare us and please let us get out of detention?"

He looked at me like I just swallowed the biggest bumblebee in the world. Then, "get your stuff from the classroom. You, Marissa, dot, and Holly are free to go. As for Ms. Acosta... I'll be speaking to her very shortly."

"Really?" I said as my eyes bugged _way_ out.

"Sure, whatever. Now get out of my office," he said. I inched towards the door and I heard him mumble, "that bloody lady's about to drive me up the wall with her whining and complaining."

I laughed as I skipped down the hall to retrieve my backpack and my friends and explained the situation to Ms. Patil. Do you know what she does this time?

She scowled at me. Then got up and chased the four of us down the hall. I don't know what happened to this lady, but we ran like alley cats down the hallway and out of the school.

* * *

As soon as we got about a good three miles from the school, we stopped and panted for breath. "That lady is crazy!" Holly said to us. 

"Y-yeah. She like, she... I can't _breathe_!" Marissa said as she started to pant for breath.

"Marissa? Marissa!" I said as she fell to the ground.

Sure, she may have caused some trouble in school, but she's my best friend, I couldn't let her go down like this.

"Marissa!" Dot said as tears piled on her eyes.

"We have to take her to the hospital or something!" Holly yelled at us. So, we started screaming around, shouting for _some_one to pay some kind of attention to us. And guess who did?

Casey.

"Hey Sammy," he said. My cheeks immediately turned red, but I was focused on my best friend.

"Casey! This isn't the right time for me to talk. I've gotta take Marissa to the hospital and... and... and— " I said to him, but he shushed me up with his finger.

"I've got you Sammy," he said oh-so calmly. How can he be so calm at a time like this? Then, just as I was pondering this thought, he rumbled in his pocket for something and found it.

A marker. That's right, a stinking marker. Do you know what he did with the marker?

He pushes it in front of Marissa's nose.

I see that Marissa starts to stir a little bit and her eyes went open.

"We need to take her to the hospital!" Holly screamed. Then her face softens a bit. "Oh," is all she says.

"But you're right. We do need to take her to the hospital." So, Casey gotone of his friends to help us carry Marissa to an ambulance that finally came and we all rode to the hospital together. I sat next to Casey, who sat next to dot, who sat next to Holly, who sat next to Casey's friend. His name was Morgan.

* * *

When we got to the hospital, I called Grams and explained the whole situation to her. She was very worried, I could tell. Not about me, but about Marissa. 

We all waited outside of the hospital room, waiting for the nurse or the doctor to tell us what was wrong with Marissa. I hoped she was okay. I mean, what would my life be without Marissa? She's my best friend, my adventures would be nothing without her. Pretty soon, I was starting to pant for air myself, so I had to take a few deep breaths and sit down, seeing how I was pacing away and burning a hole in my high-tops.

But I needed more air when I saw the person that I saw. And trust me, if Marissa could see this person, she's do a double take and she's _still_ end up in the hospital.

* * *

That's all for right now. I hope y'all liked it. And, yeah, I don't know where I am going with this story, but you'll be shocked at how it turns out (So will I, but I won't say a word). So long everyone, and please revie, it'll do me great justice. :) 


	4. Four: And So it Begins

**Disclaimer:** Sammy Keyes belong to me not. If it was, I would be writing a summer sequel by now. Thanks.

**Author's Note: **Ok, I realized something very important. In "The Art of Deception," Marissa already started a mini rumor about how Casey kissed Sammy, right? Well, I didn't know that because when I wrote chapter 3, I didn't get a chance to read that particular book yet. But know that I read it, now I have to say that the idea of the Casey kissing Sammy thing was actually Wendelin's idea, only I am going to tweak it a little bit. So, please don't sue. I'll put that in my disclaimer from now on. Okay? Any who, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**

* * *

****Chapter 4**

"Hi Danny," I said.

He looked so sad for a moment that I thought he was actually gonna cry. But it only lasted for a second. "What happened to Marissa? How come she's in the hospital?" he wanted to know, completely brushing off my politeness.

"I don't know. She just seemed really lightheaded when I came to her," Casey explained. "Then Sammy and her friends had to take her here." Holly and Dot waved shyly at him. My cheeks began to fire up as he said his next comment, "if it wasn't for Sammy, I don't know what would have happened to Marissa." Holly and Dot gave me suggestive looks as my cheeks started to heat _way_ up.

I got up and paced another hole in my high-tops. "Sammy, calm down. Seriously, do you _really_ wanna burn a hole in your high-tops?" Casey told me. I kept pacing around aimlessly anyway.

"Marissa can see you now," the nurse told us as we began to pile in the room where Marissa was staying.

"Hey Missy," Danny said to her.

She was laying down silently up until that point. Then she bolted upright and her eyes bugged out a bit.

"Hey Danny," she said. Then she got up and gave him a hug. This little gesture made me think about that situation with Heather and what Marissa started earlier.

See, this isn't the first time Marissa told people about Casey kissing me. She did the same thing back in March, only because he really did kiss something of mines, but it sure wasn't what you may think it is. He only pecked me on my hand, only because he was Sir Lucan, Knight of the... something. Me remembering this would make me sound so... how you say, love struck?

Yeah, that's not how I wanted to sound at all.

Anyhow, Marissa and Danny chatted amongst themselves. Was this for real? Was Marissa seriously serious when she said that she had a high school boyfriend? Man, this bites.

"So, you get to come home tomorrow, right?" he asked her.

"Yeah, but I don't have to go to school tomorrow," she told him.

"What?" Holly, Dot and I practically shouted at her.

"My mom said I don't have to," she told us.

Great, this is like death by junior high embarrassment.

No, it was _way_ worse than that. I'd have to put up with Heather's stupid cattish remarks. Which reminds me...

"Hey Casey," I said, slapping him on his back. He sputtered a bit. "You told me that Heather wasn't going to be in William Rose Junior High any more. Well, guess what? Part of the reason why Marissa is here in the first place is because we were running from a teacher in detention. And guess what else? Part of the reason why we were in detention was because your _sister_ was picking on me and her."

"But my mom said that she would transfer Heather into Santa Martina Junior High," he told me. I brooded some while pacing one more hole in my shoes.

"I... I... I didn't know. How did she even pull this off?" he wondered. Then he begins to pace along side of me. "Maybe my mom changed her mind and thought she should finish her studies where she had started it."

"Stupid Heather trying to ruin my life. She'd be the death of me, really!" I said.

"She is so spoiled by my mother. Good thing my dad knows better than that," he said to himself.

"She seems to get everything she wants, which she doesn't even deserve! That's not fair!"

"She'll get hers someday," Casey said.

That really got to me for some reason because I shouted, "when will that stupid day comes when she gets the most brutal payback in her life? Everything negative that seems to go her way gets bounced off by this invisible force!"

Everyone turned to look at me. "Don't worry Sammy, everything will blow over," Dot tells me. Then she grumbled, "some day."

"That's it!" I yelled, stomping my foot on the ground a couple of times. "I can't wait for _some_day! I want her to get what she truly deserves within the week she tries to make my life a living hell!"

I ran out of the hospital at a fast pace, escaping the yells of the staff and the questioning looks of my friends. They didn't, they _couldn't_ understand a typical day with Heather... except maybe Casey. But I will now and forever stick by my original thought; he will always and forever be an _Acosta_, tied to my worst enemy by blood. I don't know what made me trust him in the first place, but I was starting to regret my decision.

* * *

I ran all the way to where I had stashed my schoolbooks and my skateboard and just took off to the Senior High-rise. My work for today was over, and so was my stupid relation... I mean _friend_ship with Casey Acosta. He lead me to think I was going absolutely crazy, and now he expects me to believe that Heather was _really_ supposed to transfer out? That was my escape ticket out of Gossip Town. But _no_, she had to be there to stick around. 

Eventually, everything got to me and as soon as I had climbed up the fire escape and entered the apartment building, I gave Grams the biggest hug you could imagine me giving her, collapsed on the couch, planted my head on the couch pillow and _bawled_ my eyes out.

You have to understand, the last time I cried this hard was when my mom told me that I was turning thirteen instead of fourteen.

"Samantha! What's wrong? Did you have a bad day at school?" Grams asked me softly while rubbing my back. I just nodded against the couch. "Do you want to talk about it?" I shook my head. "Okay, I'll just get dinner started then, okay? I'll make Macaroni and cheese with salsa." I smiled at the last part, but then, remembering who first told me about mac-and-cheese with salsa was the one person I couldn't stand at that moment. I wanted nothing to do with him now.

"Grams?"

"Yes Samantha?" she asked as she just pulled down a box of elbow pasta.

"I don't want Macaroni and cheese. I want..." I don't believe I was actually saying this, but here goes... "your famous fish and rice. Please Grams?"

She stared and gaped at me. Then shut her mouth, only to stare and gape some more. "Really, what's wrong? You never want my fish and rice."

"I know. I had a really bad day at school today." Then I proceeded to tell her about the fainting part and how I thought Casey thought that I was imagining things. I skipped the part about the detention, because she already knew about that. Then I added about Casey misleading me about Heather transferring schools and then landed right back at William Rose.

"My, my. That's quite a day you had today, dear," Grams told me reassuringly.

"Yeah, and things are about to get worse, I can tell you that," I told her sadly. After dinner was cooked and we ate, I sat on the couch and thought about everything that went on. And the more I thought about it, the more I felt that Heather really didn't belong at William Rose. I fell asleep without much of a care in the world.

* * *

I woke up the next day around 5 o'clock in the morning and began to brood some about this stupid situation. Then I brooded about my trust with Casey and how I felt he was leading me to some crappy alleyway of trouble. Then, I began to brood about how Marissa wasn't even going to be in school with me to face this hearty wrath I was going to face very soon. 

In the end, I brooded about simple unchangeable things such as why the sky was blue and why it seems to orbit the sun instead of the sun orbiting the earth. Don't ask, that's how broody I was.

Anyhow, I showered and got dressed and ready for school. I ate some of Gram's famous oatmeal and left the house earlier than expected.

I got into home room with about ten minutes to spare. After I had dropped my things off in Mrs. Ambler's room, I paced around it for some time and brooded even more about the stupid things that people said last year.

"_Lovebirds Mrs. Ambler? How adorable!"_

"_You gotta dump the dead weight if you wanna get anywhere around here."_

"_My brother says you're a liar. Says he'd rather kiss a codfish!"_

"_Hey, loser. What are you doing here with a baby, huh?"_

Okay, okay, fine. Granted, all of those stuff were things that Heather said to me last year, but it sure did make me even more broodier than ever.

I didn't even notice that it was time for class to start until I heard Mrs. Ambler tell me to sit down and stop pacing her classroom. According to her, I was burning a hole in the ceiling of the people below us. I glowered and sat in my seat and brooded for a couple of minutes more before she lead the roll, the pledge and made her usual announcements. Then she went on and on about some more ancient civilizations and that was the end of class.

* * *

I went to math classroom and saw Ms. Patil planning her lesson for today, which were on factoring algebraic equations and defining "X." As if that wasn't enough when Mr. Tiller taught us math. Oy. 

"Now, to eliminate this y-value, of course, you have to find what the x-values are," Ms. Patil explained as kids frantically jotted down notes in their notebooks. "Any questions?" she asked. Then she looked straight at Holly. I could practically hear Holly gulp from her end of the classroom.

"What does this have to do with factorials?" I unexpectedly blurted out. Great, I was heading for another detention on my hands, wasn't I?

"Why, what ever do you mean dear Samantha?" she said while her voice not only dripped, but _leaked_ with absolute sarcasm.

"Well, yesterday, you were teaching us about factorials, and now you're here teaching us substitution? Isn't that Math A material?" **A/n: I can't remember what I was taught in the eighth grade, so don't blame me if I go into Math A mode.**

"Well," she sputtered for a minute before saying, "I think I know what I am teaching this class, Samantha. So, if you have a problem with my teaching methods, I believe you should take this up with the Vice Principal, or better yet, the Principal herself. Right?"

So, you can imagine how broody I got during the remainder of the class. I went straight to science where Mr. Pence was waiting for us with petri dishes and some frogs. Immediately, I knew something bad was coming our way, I just couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"W-what are we gonna do today Mr. Pence," Dot asked him with a slight shake to her voice.

"We," he said with a bright smile on his face, "are going to dissect frogs."

I knew it.

"Oh, _gross_!" Half the class groaned. Some morons said how cool it was gonna be. I knew for sure that Holly looked completely terrified and grossed out at the same time, while Dot looked like she was gonna _hurl_ any minute.

Tawnee Francisco looked horrified. "Where's the school spirit? We're supposed to be _bull_frogs for crying out loud! Why do we have to _dissect_ them?" she whined.It was enough whining to shatter a glass into millions of pieces.

Anyhow, so, there we were, dissecting our poor school mascot. I got to brooding about that. Just as I was finishing brooding about that, Mr. Pence said something that made me jump clear out of my seat.

I had to partner up with Heather.

Of all people, this very own Heather Acosta. _Heather_? Boy, this day was getting worse by the minute.

"Hi Sammy," she said cheerfully. That was enough to make me brood _and_ gag. I turned broody again, as you may have noticed.

"Leave me alone," I said quietly.

"But... I'm your partner," she said with this ridiculous smile on her face. I know Heather by now, she only smiles like that when she's about to poke me in my butt with a safety pin or she's about to steal something from me. I scanned her face with a scowl on mine and decided. She's up to something.

"Yeah, I noticed," I said to her. I rolled my eyes while Holly and Dot gave me sincerely sorry looks.

Oy!

After Mr. Pence gave us the instructions, we began to dissect the poor frog.

"No, you can't do it that way! You have to put the cutter at an angle Sammy!" Heather told me while I was trying my hardest to concentrate on not hurting the poor frog too badly. Don't blame me, I felt sorry for it. It was so young, so innocent, so...

"Pay attention to what you are doing!" she yelled at me for the last time.

"What do you want from me, you little devil child? I'm doing the best I can to put up with the likes of you and I can't concentrate if you're busy screaming in my ears you know! If you think you're so great, why don't _you_ dissect the stupid frog?" I yelled at her.

"Fine," she said oh-so simply. She took the knife, held it 'at an angle,' and began to cut the legs off of the frog oh-so nicely. She put them aside and gave me another cattish smile. I glowered at her.

Then, just when I wasn't looking, Heather put the four frog legs down the back of my shirt. I knocked over my lab chair and jumped about ten feet in the air, screaming at the gross, slippery frog legs. It traveled down my back, and into the back of my pants. I screamed some more.

"Samantha! What happened?" Mr. Pence asked while everyone stared at me like I swallowed the legs. But I didn't, they were in my _pants_!

"AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I continued to scream as I ran into Mrs. Ambler's room, grabbed my skateboard and bookbag and I hightailed it out of there.

* * *

I ran out of the front door, slammed my skateboard on the concrete and rode at a fast pace. I was going so fast that everything seemed to be a blur to me. So, when I bumped into a blur, I wasn't so surprised. But when I looked up to see who the blur was, anger flowed inside of me like molten lava, just about to explode. 

"Sammy? What are you doing out of school?" he asked me.

"I could ask you the same thing," I said tightly while I grabbed my skateboard and began to skate again.

"I just wanted to know if you were all right from the other day," Casey said.

"Why do _you_ care?" I yelled behind me and picked up the pace on my board.

I realized that he was following me while I was headed to the Senior Highrise, so I stopped short, turned around and headed opposite Broadway to Hudson's house.

I really like Hudson. When I'm feeling really down, he could always help me. It doesn't matter that he's seventy-two and has gray eyebrows and thinning hair; what mattered was that he was my friend and he could help me with the slightest problems.

"Hudson!" I called out when I reached his porch. His porch is my favorite spot in the world. I do some of my most intense thinking while sipping some iced tea and eating his mega maple upside down cake.

"Sammy! What a wonderful surprise!" he said to me. I kicked up my board and sat in my favorite chair. "Are you in trouble?" he asked as I gasped for air.

"Yeah," I said to him. "Can I use your bathroom?"

"Sure," he said and continued to eat cake.

I ran into the bathroom and pulled off the legs from my pants, washed my hands and went back outside.

Hudson had a glass of iced tea and a slice of cake waiting for me. I sat down and told him the whole story about how Casey told me that Heather wasn't going to be in my school anymore, but then she came back. Then I told him about our new math teacher and how crazy she was as she chased us down the hall. Then I told him about Marissa not being in school because of her little incident. I finalized it with how Heather stuffed two pairs of frog legs down my pants and I left school because of that.

"So, you're supposed to be in school?" he asked me.

"Yeah, but I can't go back there! I don't even care if I get suspended. Gives me all the more reason _not_ to go back to that... that... zoo!" I said angrily. I noticed that Hudson was very distant and looking straight behind me.

"How are you doing?" Hudson said. At first, I thought he was being delusional, but when I turned around, I saw Casey panting for breath.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him rudely.

"I've been trying to ask you if you were mad at me from yesterday, but you were going to fast," he said. I scowled at him.

"What do _you_ think?"

He stared at me like I was crazy. "Ok, what did Heather do this time?"

"You know, you're just like her in every way. Sneaky and deceiving. I shouldn't have trusted you at all," I told him.

"What did I ever do?" he asked me.

"You told me that she wasn't even going to be in William Rose anymore, but I got detention because of her. _And_ she stuffed frog legs down my pants."

"That's cruel," he said.

I shook my head in disbelief. "I bet you told her to do that, didn't you?"

He stared at me. "Why would I do that? I'm not like her at all."

"Sammy, don't you think you're jumping to conclusions a little bit?" Hudson asked me.

I glared at the both of them. "I'm leaving," I said. I know I was being a little irrational, but could you really blame me?

Sheesh! Boys! You think you know them, but they always surprise you in the end. I hated it.

"Sammy! Hold on a minute!" Casey called after me. But I was skating too fast for him. "Sammy, I think we need to talk. Do you want someone to talk to?"

"Yeah!" I shouted while tears sprang out of my eyes, "my best friend in the whole world!"

I hung a left on Morrison street and headed down East Jasmin to Marissa's house. More like a mansion. Her rather _big_ mansion.

"Yeah, sure, come on in Sammy," Yolanda told me. "Marissa's been asking for you _all_ day. She's in her room." She let me inside and I went to Marissa's room.

"Thanks Mrs. McKenze," I told her.

"Ooh! Sammy, guess what?" was the greeting that I got from Marissa when I set but one foot inside of her room.

"What? What happened?"

"Danny said that Billy said that Casey is always bragging about you in his class," she told me. I toed the carpet on her floor and hoped that she wouldn't notice how red my face was turning.

"Isn't that like, totally cool?" she asked me.

"No, in fact, I hate Casey right about now," I told her. As expected, her eyes bugged _way_ out.

"But... but why?" she asked me.

"I can't stand him right now. He accused me of 'slander,' as her royal rudeness would put it. Then the Mistress of Meanness dumped two pairs of frog legs down my back. That's right Marissa, we had to dissect a frog in science. Lucky you. After that, I just left school and went to talk to Hudson, right? Guess what he does? He blows me off completely and says 'Sammy, don't you think you're jumping to conclusions a little bit?' Whatever," I said to her.

"Man, you sure had some day. Do you know what I did all day?" she asked me. I shook my head no. "I had to babysit Mikey today. Which was insanely crazy, 'cause I got like, no sleep whatsoever."

"I'd take babysitting Mikey over dealing with Heather any day," I told her.

She pondered this thought for a second before saying, "yeah. I guess he's not _so_ bad." I nodded in agreement with her.

"Marissa? Sammy?Someone's at the door for you!" Mrs. Mekenze shouted out to us.

"Okay!"

Marissa and I raced for the door and I hoped and prayed that it wasn't Casey or anything like that. But the case was much more worse than that could ever _compete_ to be.

"Officer Borsch!" we said in unison.

"Sammy, Marissa, I'm afraid I have very bad news for you," he told us seriously. You can imagine how much our eyes bugged out when we saw Holly trailing behind him and sniffling her nose at us.

"Holly, what's wrong?" I asked her softly.

"M-m-m-m-m-Meg, V-v-v-v-Vera, s-s-s-s-snatched. Anonymous person robbed... worried so m-m-m-much!" she struggled through her tears.

"What?" asked Marissa and I.

"What she said was: Meg and Vera were snatched from the Pup Parlor this afternoon. The anonymous person robbed the register and some puppies from the store. Now she's worried because they're her legal guardians and she has nowhere else to stay." He looked from us to Holly. "Is that right ma'am?" Holly just nodded, too traumatized to talk. Trust me, I was just as affected as Marissa was.

I guess we have a kidnapper on our hands and on the loose.

* * *

That's the end of this chapter. Let me know what you all think by reviewing. Thanks again for reading this:) 


	5. Intermission

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Sammy Keyes. I am not in anyway affiliated with Sammy Keyes, Wendelin Van Draanen or Live Oaks mysteries. I am just creating a story for my own enjoyment and it's a non-profitable production, thanks people.

**A/n:** I just wanted to see what it would be like if Sammy and Marissa was never friends in the first place. What if Heather and Sammy were friends and Marissa was like Heather? Just a brief intermission from the story before I can truly update the story. Enjoy.

* * *

I skated all the way to school, just making the tardy bell and slipping inside class. Mrs. Ambler, our homeroom teacher, led the pledge and spoke her announcements. Just then, I spotted Heather and Tenille. 

"Hey Heather, hey Tenille," I said to them.

"Sammy! It's about time you got here. You will never believe what juicy gossip I have for you," she told me. I placed my skateboard on the floor and braced myself for the news. Just because Heather was into lip gloss, boys, make-up and gossip, it didn't mean that I couldn't like her as a friend. That's what makes us so different, but yet alike. For instance, she's a girly girl, and I'm… not. We're still best friends, who just happen to have the same birthday as each other. I glanced at Marissa and Dot and wondered, 'what would my life be like if I were friends with _them_?'

"Okay, get on with the news already!" I told Heather.

"Okay, okay. You know how you had that long-life crush on my brother? Well guess what?"

I was hoping that she would tell me that he had a crush on me also. I mean, how could you _not_ like him. He has the most adorable pair of chocolate colored eyes, and he's really sweet. He's also popular, just as popular as Heather and I are. What else could you ask for in a boy?

"That Marissa girl likes him just as much as you do," she told me. I'm glad I dropped my skateboard or else I might have broken it in half.

"What?" I exclaimed in disbelief. "How could she like someone like him? How could she like him? That's not fair."

"No worries, he's totally into you though, remember that," she assured me. I still wasn't convinced.

After homeroom, I walked to Mr. Holgartner's history class in disappointment. Just as I couldn't get anymore upset, guess who I see talking to Casey?

Miss Marissa and Dot. I bet they're telling him about their stupid adventures, like I'd care if I was him.

I walked right over to them and gave Casey the biggest hug you could imagine. "Hi Casey," I said to him. "Marissa, Dot."

"Sammy, bug off would you? We were just talking to Casey. We _are_ allowed to have him as a friend as much as you are."

Just then, Heather and Tenille came to my rescue. What are friends for, huh?

"Ew, look what the wind blew in. It's Marissa and Dotty. What are you losers doing to my brother?"

"We… we… we… we were only talking to Casey," Dot sputtered.

"Well, don't. I don't remember giving you permission to talk to him you know," she said as she walked into the class room. Tenille just snarled at Marissa and Dot as they winced in fright. I followed Heather and Tenille right into class, leaving Marissa and Dot to themselves.

* * *

So, fast forward to when school finally ended and I was walking home with Heather and Casey. Then Heather decided that she had 'important business to tend to,' which left me and Casey walking side-by-side. 

"So," I said to him.

"So," he replied shyly.

"I guess Heather told you about the… thingy, right? That… embarrassing thing?" I asked him.

"Aw, c'mon, it's not that embarrassing. Well, not to me it is. You're blowing this completely out of proportion," he told me. Just then, he turned to me and took my hand in his. "Sammy, don't worry about it. I don't like Marissa like that. I really like you, a lot. I've always liked you like that. I just didn't know if you liked me back. Heather kept saying that you did, but really, she's your best friend and she's my sister. Naturally, she wouldn't want anyone else to like her brother."

I was shocked beyond belief. He really did like me! This is great news!

"Wow," was all I could say before he leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips. When we broke apart, my face screamed hotness as I felt tingly sensations running up and down my spine.

The rest of the walk home was relaxing yet oddly awkward, but in a peaceful way. I finally got to the fire escape of the senior high rise building.

"Well, I gotta go now Casey. See you in school tomorrow," I told him.

"Of course. I'll call you tonight, okay?"

"Sure, of course. Grams is waiting for me," I told him. He gave me another kiss on the lips and I climbed up the fire escape with my skateboard. My lips began to tingle as I reached the fifth floor landing. As I entered the apartment, I couldn't steady myself and as soon as I hit the couch (after telling Grams and Dorito my cat hi), I fell asleep, anxiously awaiting the surprises that would come tomorrow. I had to tell Heather about this.

Oh, wait. Did I even have homework? Oh, well, I'll copy from Heather in the morning, _if_ she does her homework.

**

* * *

****A/n:** I hope you like that little intermission from the story. I just needed to get this off of my chest, because I was suffering from slight writer's block. Maybe this little snippet would have its play in the story. Or it might not. You never know. Then again, I don't know myself, so you'll be pleasantly (or unpleasantly) surprised. (so will I!) 


	6. Five: Lady Lana's Lie

Disclaimer: I don't own Sammy Keyes. Most of the plot is mine, except for the rumor about Casey kissing Sammy (dang it!). Other than that, the plot is mines, but the characters aren't, okay people?

A/N: I have no important news to report in terms of the story. Sorry about that.

Five

* * *

We followed Officer Borsch to the police station, all of us not saying anything at all. Marissa and I snuck the occasional glances at Holly. Boy, did she seem really distraught. 

When we got there, he directed us to a seating place and told us to stay put until he came back. When he finally _did_ come back, he gave us the mug pictures to look at, hoping we would find the muggers. I wanted to say, "Fat chance!" but Holly was already a wreck. Her hair was plastered to her head, her face was tear-streaked and her eyes were bloodshot.

"I tell you, they wouldn't be in the muggers book. The guy or girl had full body suits and masks on their faces," Holly told him sadly.

"Yeah, and if it were up to me," I piped in, "I'd go and look for the people already."

"But Sammy, many people could fit the perps' description," Marissa popped in.

"So? Holly, did you get a sample of the person's voice?" I asked her. She shook her head frantically.

"They had one of those voice changing devices, I know it for a fact," she told us.

"So? The person could have given themselves away _some_how," Marissa said to me. That got our bickering fired up.

Holly said she didn't get a sample because she came in too late. I made the point to ask her if she saw anything at all. Marissa said, "Of course she did, or she wouldn't have known that Meg and Vera were snatched in the first place."

"But still, she could have been there long enough to hear someone speaking, saying something like, 'here, let's get them in the truck' or something. Right?" I said. Oops.

"Oh, Sammy!" Holly wailed, "you can't be _possibly_ thinking that, _can_ you? Remember the… the thing with the… the cats? A-a-and the way they were using them f-for bets and stuff like that?"

"Okay, let's not bring that up," Officer Borsch warned us. Way back in April, he played this freaky El Gato dude, and it almost costed him his life.

"Sorry," I said remorsefully. "Okay, but seriously, think about it though. I wonder, what would make the kidnappers snatch Meg and Vera in the first place? They must have something that he… or she may want."

"Like what, money or something?" Marissa asked me.

"Probably, or maybe a cute little dog," Holly said to us. I gave them doubtful looks. "What?" she asked me.

"We need a different motive, right Officer Borsch?" I asked him.

I could have sworn that he bared his teeth at me. Nonetheless, he said, "Sammy's right. If they wanted a dog or money, why not rob them of a pooch or the cash register? Why take Meg and Vera themselves?" This caused Holly to start in a fresh round of sobs all over again. She slammed her head on the table and cried her eyes out. Whoever was doing this probably wanted a way to torture Holly, and they succeeded at that.

Whatever it is, their motive or whatever, it's not a nice one. And I have a feeling that things are only gonna get worse.

* * *

I told you, because the very next day at school, I had to face Heather, first thing in the morning. What bad luck already. 

"What Heather!" I told her meanly before she got a chance to utter a syllable.

"Hi Sammy, I was just wondering…"

"NO! Leave me alone!" I yelled at her. Everyone paused to turn around and look at me. "What? Go back to your business, all of you! And Heather, LEAVE ME ALONE!" I turned abruptly and proceeded to homeroom.

"What was that about Sammy?" Marissa asked me.

"You know, I forgot about that little rumor that you started yesterday. About me and Casey being a _couple_?" I told her.

"Oh." She tugged at her collar guiltily. "Oops, I'm sorry Sammy, really! I was just mad because Heather thinks she could get everyone's hopes up about her leaving, then tricks us all by showing her smug face here again. _Then_ she has nerves to act like she's the William Rose Junior High School Queen. Oy!" she told Dot and I.

I snuck a glance at Holly and noticed bags under her eyes. I walked over to her and sat down next to her. "Holly, did you sleep any last night?"

She shook her head at me. "You will never believe the dream I had last night…" she began, but Mrs. Ambler walked into the room just as the tardy bell rang.

"Okay, everyone, stand up for the pledge. C'mon, everyone, after me." She led the pledge and sat down. Everyone looked at her like 'what, no announcements?'

"C'mon, let's get on with it all." Then she told us about the Mesopotamian Civilization and how it was significant to ancient history and blah, blah, blah was all I heard. For what it was worth, this was _the_ worst class period ever.

After history (ugh!), we had math with Miss Stupid Patil. When she was in the middle of teaching us equations and formulas and how to solve for them (is she even following the curriculum?), guess who shows up in the middle of her dulling lecture?

Heather.

And you know what she says?

Miss Patil just tells her to take a seat and look on with someone. Unfortunately, that someone was me. Oy!

"Hi Sammy, let me see your notes," she asked, or rather _told_ me with that ridiculous smile on her face. That same stupid catty smile she gave me right before she stuck me in the butt with a sewing needle back in the seventh grade.

Okay, I have got to get over that.

Instead, of doing that, I shot my hand up in the air, waving it back and forth, hoping, and just _praying_ that Miss Patil will at least give me a chance.

"Yes, Sammy Keyes?" she said to me meanly.

"I need to go to the bathroom," I told her. She snarled at me and continued to write on the board. "Miss Patil, I'm.. I'm… I'm… I'm…" I stuttered, throwing my hands to my stomach and holding it there. I gave Marissa a sly wink as she caught my drift.

"Miss Patil, Sammy's gonna _barf_!" she yelled.

Miss Patil whipped around and looked at me. I must have really looked green, because even _Heather_ said, "Miss Patil, you should let Sammy use the bathroom, she looks sick. Ew, she's gonna barf on me!" Boy was I hoping for _that_ incident.

Miss Patil waved her hand as to signal 'go, get out of my class,' and I ran out of there ASAP. Trouble is, running actually _did_ make me feel green inside, because I wasted no time scrambling to the bathroom.

You don't wanna know what happened in there.

When I got out of the bathroom, still holding my stomach, I tried to make it back to class. But guess who I ran into on my way there?

Nope, not Heather this time.

Yeah, I did.

I ran right into Casey, who was supposed to be living it up in Santa Martina High.

"Hi Sammy," he said to me. I glared at him.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him not-too-politely.

"I'm supposed to be dropping off something for Heather," he told me matter-of-factly.

"Oh," was all I said.

I went around him to get back to class, but he took my arm and swung me back around so I ended up facing him. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened to your friend's guardians, and I'm sorry about what happened when we were in the hospital with Marissa. I didn't mean to say what I said, and if I offended you…" he trailed off.

I stood impatiently, tapping my foot at him. "So, what do you want me to say? You want me to forgive you for being Heather's brother? Do you want me to forget about all the times that you helped me and…" I trailed off, realizing how ridiculous I was being. "Okay, this is awkward…" I said slowly.

"Fine, if you want to keep acting like a big middle school baby, be my guest. I know I didn't do anything but, but I figured that maybe if I apologized, to you, you'd act just a little more grown up than how you're acting right now. But _no_, you just mad my _sister's_ point about you," he said to me as he stalked off to the office.

Was I living in a reverse reality world or what? First, Heather's trying to be nice to me like I forgot how bratty she was; now Casey's being mean to me?

"Heather's in Miss Patil's math class by the way," I said to him as I went in the opposite direction. I walked back slowly to the classroom as I felt twenty-eight pairs of eyes on me. "What?" I asked.

I took my seat and went back to doing my work. On cue, Casey walked into the door. I felt everyone stare back and forth at Casey and me.

"Yes Casey?" Miss Patil asked gently. Twenty-nine gasps filled the room as the shock sank in that Miss Patil knew Casey somehow.

"I need to give heather something," he said to her as he walked over to Heather's chair, which, by the way, was right next to mines. I saw him hand her a brown-bagged lunch. But the strangest thing happened.

He handed _me_ a note. From a first glimpse, I saw that it was decorated with silly borderlines made up of my name. Heather stared at me as I shakily proceeded to open the note. It said exactly this:

"Dear Sammy,

I really like you, a lot. Ever since the first day we met. But then you found out that Heather's my sister. I'm very sorry about that, but I keep trying to assure you that I'm nothing like her. The only thing we share are parents.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel that you shouldn't have to worry about Heather being mean to you anymore, because my dad gave her an ultimatum. Either she compromises with you or she has to move to another school where she doesn't have to worry about you at all. I guess you can figure out what choice she made, you're a smart girl.

"Anyhow, this letter is about you Sammy. I hate it when you're mad at me like this. We're friends and we should be able to work out our differences. My sister shouldn't have to be in the way of this. If she has a problem with us hanging out, then that's her problem. Like I said before, we are nothing like each other, so you can't really expect us to act the same way as each other.

"There is one more thing I feel I should tell you. Heather told me about what Marissa said about us."

At this moment, I looked up at Marissa and scowled at her. Great, now Casey knows. I continued to read the letter as Heather's face turned redder and redder by the passing second.

"Actually, I have to admit, I wouldn't mind being your boyfriend, strictly only if you want me to be. I really do like you Sammy. You're sweet, smart, fun to hang out with, and most of all, pretty. So, what I'm asking you is, will you at least consider being my girlfriend? If you say no, I'll understand, but if you say yes, that great! But I kinda need an answer by precisely October 28 of this year, because that's when my school is having a Halloween dance and I would really appreciate it if you went with me there, you know, kinda like an escort? Well, I hope I get a chance to talk to you soon, and I hope you'll forgive me by then.

Love, Casey A."

I stared at the letter as I read it over and over again. Finally: "This can _not_ be happening!" Heather and I exclaimed. Twenty-seven heads snapped up to the right hand section of the room.

"Lower your voices!" Miss Patil said harshly. I rolled my eyes at her. Heather just continued to gape at the letter and me.

"Casey's only telling you this because he wants to get on my nerves. There is no _way_ he will _ever_ like _you_ Sammy Keyes. Mark my words," Heather told me while scowling. Whatever. I rolled my eyes at her and stuffed the letter in my pocket with care. The bell chose to ring at that moment. I, along with others, scrambled out of the room. As close as I was to freedom, someone pulled me back.

"The next time, Sammy Keyes, you decide to disrupt my classroom with your tactics, I _will_ have you in detention. I _will_ get my way Sammy, because what I want, I'll get, no matter what the circumstances are," Miss Patil threatened me. I cocked an eyebrow in mock surprise and stepped back cautiously.

"Whatever you say Miss Patil,' I told her as I rushed out of the room to my next class, science.

Because I 'ditched' science, I had to make up extra work for Mr. Pence. Can't a girl get a break?

First, I had to stay there. While everyone else was doing work, I had to watch a video on the 'proper' way to dissect a frog. As it turns out, the blade wasn't supposed to be 'held at an angle.' Great.

Then after a double dosing of English, I had lunch detention with Mr. pence along with Heather. We, from watching the movie, had to properly dissect the frog and identify its body parts. Trust me, I'd have taken Mystery Meat in the cafeteria _any_time.

After I snuck a few bites of good ol' PB&J and a period of lecturing from Mrs. Ambler about going to the best high school we can possibly go to, I had gym.

Can you say freedom?

I couldn't wait for softball season to start. Since Heather was supposed to be registered at another school, she's no longer on the team. Because of her and her stupid tactics, last year, she cost the whole team the Championships. Basically, she frame Marissa and me for vandalism and the players who took our places basically sucked, so, I couldn't _wait_ for softball season to start. I also wanna try out for captain, since I'm an eighth grader.

I guess that's the only perk about being head honcho of the campus this year.

"Welcome back everyone!" my favorite, Coach Rothhammer said to us enthusiastically.

"Hi Coach," we all replied.

"Now this season, e need a captain. Being captain is more than just a privilege. Being captain means more responsibility. It means more practicing, more cooperative teamwork, more unity." We all stared at her.

"Sounds pretty much like how it is now," Marissa whispered to Dot and me. We cracked up silently.

"And now, without further wait, if the eighth graders would like to try out for captain, please sign your name on the clipboard that I'm handing around," Coach said as she passed the clipboard to Dot first. When Dot was finished, she passed it to Marissa. After an eternity later, Marissa passed the clipboard to me. I just signed it in my usual scrawl.

After all the eighth graders signed the clipboard, Coach warmed us up with what she called "light" warm-ups. During that, I took the opportunity to fill Dot and Marissa in on what Casey, Heather and Miss Patil said to me.

"He _wrote_ that?" Dot asked me. I nodded. Hr response to that was, "I _told_ you that you liked him!"

"What?" I exclaimed. Marissa and Dot giggled at me as I gaped at them. What the hell is wrong with my friends? "That's not funny!" I told them snappishly.

"He wrote you a _love_ letter. What else could that possibly mean?" Marissa asked me. I continued to stare at them.

"Okay, give me as many pushups as possible in two minutes people!" Coach told us. We instantly dropped to the floor and began our pushups.

"But that doesn't mean that I like him back," I told them, aggravated because I knew exactly what they were going to tell me next.

"But you kept his letter in your pocket!" they said.

I knew it.

"Guys, seriously, what makes you think that I like him? Huh? Give me _one_ good reason."

"You blush when he's around you, even when you're mad at him," Dot said.

Okay, give me _two_ good reasons.

"And you kept his horseshoe that he gave to you," Marissa said to me.

Give me _three_ good reasons.

"_And_, you don't pull away when he holds your hand," Dot said again.

"Or when he holds you close while _singing_ to you!" Marissa finished, putting the cherry on top.

I felt my face flush, but nonetheless I said, "Stop it, the both of you! I do _not_ make a big deal out of things when he… holds my hand or… me." I bit my lip and thought about what I just said. _Did _I really do that? Well, sometimes, I did that, but to hell with admitting that!

"Time's up people! Now give me a ten minute jog," Coach shouted at us. We got up and jogged around aimlessly, practically out of breath.

"Yes, you do Sammy! It's true!" Marissa said to me. I scowled as Dot nodded in agreement.

"Well, even if you _don't_ like him, you can't hide the fact that he likes _you_ Sammy," Dot started again.

"Yeah! He wrote 'love Casey.' Twice!" Marissa stated.

I glowered at her. "Thanks, you're a big help, really." My voice dripped with sarcasm.

"We know!" Marissa and Dot said, sealing the deal. I groaned and picked up my pace, which separated me a good deal from their squealing and squawking.

After the ten-minute jog, we were given five minutes to rest, which meant five minutes to clear my head.

"Sammy!" Coach said to me, startling the peace I had (for the moment). "Your grandmother called. She needs you to go home immediately. She mumbled _some_thing about your father," she mumbled the last part. That's all I needed to hear. I was on my skateboard in a flash, dashing my way to the senior high-rise.

I got there in ten minutes flat, _and_ the ball hadn't swung past the bat, according to my watch. If Grams mentioned my father, I definitely needed to know. So, you bet I hightailed my little self up the fire escape to the fifth floor. I was shocked to see my mom pacing around in the hallway.

"Mom! What are you doing her?" I asked not-so-politely.

"Samantha, darling!" my mom said while coming over to hug me. I instantly decided that she's up to something. So, I sidestepped her and went to Grams.

"Grams, what's goin' on?"

"Come inside child," she told me and pushed me inside the apartment. None other than my precious Dorito greeted me. "You, too Lana. Inside," Grams demanded.

I went to sit on the couch and was greeted by your highness.

Officer Borsch.

He did a double take when he saw me. "Uh-oh," we said at the same time.

Lady Lana and Grams joined the room and sat down tentatively. Lady Lana looked back and forth between Borschman and I. Then she shook her head. Grams sighed exasperatedly.

"Lana, please! The more you stall, the angrier she'll be," Grams demanded of her.

"_Mother_," Lady Lana said.

"Mother!" I echoed to her. She glowered at Grams and me.

"Okay, Samantha, you wanted to know who your father is, right?" Lana said.

"You're finally gonna tell me who my father is?" I jumped up, knocking a shocked Dorito to the floor. He yowled and began crawling to Grams where he purred on her leg.

"I suppose you're old enough to know, yes," she replied.

"Finally!"

"But, you must be prepared for the shock that may come with that knowledge," she warned me.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I was starting to get impatient with her stalling.

"Okay, first of all, though you were very much uh… unplanned, I still love you very much," she began. I rolled my eyes.

"And your father has been thinking about you very much. But his raising you would have deprived him of his initial job," she continued. I saw Officer Borsch nod a little bit at me.

"So that's why I put him as 'unreported' on your birth certificate. But he's not unknown to you, not from what I hear."

"So without further delay, _Lana_," Grams said impatiently. She could sense that I was aching to know already.

"Don't push me mother," Lady Lana said. "Well, let's just say that your father has as much authority over you as I do."

I rolled my eyes and added, "And Grams."

"Yes, and your grandmother, but that's besides the point, Samantha. The point is, Samantha, is that you know your father a lot more than you think."

"I _do_?" I'm shocked now. "How?"

"Well, the thing is, Samantha, we were… involved for a while and we got very much carried away and…"

"Mom! Would you stop stalling and tell me already!" I shouted angrily.

"I'm getting there Samantha!"

"You're not getting there fast enough mom! I wanna know!"

"Samantha, please don't scream at your mother," Grams said.

Officer Borsch cleared his throat harshly, which got us to stop bickering for the moment. "Now Sammy, Your mother has a very good reason for being nervous about who your father is, so please be patient."

"Oh, like you'd know, Officer Borsch," I said snappishly.

"He _does_ know," Grams mumbled.

"Right Grams, likely story," I continued. "Next thing you know, you'd probably tell me that Officer Borsch is my dad." Lady Lana, Grams, and Officer Borsch clamped their mouths shut and looked guiltily from one another. "What? I was only _joking_."

"Samantha, please! Be more serious about this. I _said_ it was an accident!" Lady Lana said seriously.

My face did a complete 360 in less than 2.8 seconds. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. You mean to tell me that…"

"Yes, Samantha. He is indeed your father," she said to me.

You see how my mother treats me? First, she sweet-talks you. Then, she lowers a huge, life changing KABOOM! This is _exactly_ how I found out that she put me in school a year early and making me think that I was left back, when she only chucked me into school and started her fetish with 'being a move star.'

I could say nothing. All I could do was stare and gape. I closed my mouth, only to open it again, completely astounded and at a loss for words. Finally, I managed a real intelligent, "Huh?" I looked at Officer Borsch again and I noticed something. He furrowed his eyebrows in the same exact way I did. Then, only then, did the truth sink in. I was a mini Officer Borsch!

"I'm gonna go lie down for a while Grams," I said softly. I went to Grams' room and changed my clothes. I then collapsed on her bed, numb with shock. I can't believe Officer Borsch is my dad!

A/N: This took me _forever_ to finish, only 'cause my computer crashed in the middle of writing this chapter. I hope the extremely long wait was worthwhile. Ooh! I am horrible. (Chants around in circle): Sammy has a daddy, Sammy has a daddy!

Till next time, tah-tah!

P.S. Sammy's life is only gonna get more complicated!


	7. Six: Big Changes

Disclaimer: I promise, I really don't own Sammy Keyes. I'm not Wendelin Van Draanen (pronounced Draah-Nen). My name is Kit Baral, when you see _that_ name on books, then I can say, "I wrote that!" Other than that, fat chance!

A/N: If anyone has complaints about where this chappie goes, don't wanna hear them. (Smiles sweetly) Enjoy!

Six

The Night Before

Officer Borsch cleared his throat harshly, which got us to stop bickering for the moment. "Now Sammy, Your mother has a very good reason for being nervous about who your father is, so please be patient."

"Oh, like you'd know, Officer Borsch," I said snappishly.

"He _does_ know," Grams mumbled.

"Right Grams, likely story," I continued. "Next thing you know, you'd probably tell me that Officer Borsch is my dad." Lady Lana, Grams, and Officer Borsch clamped their mouths shut and looked guiltily from one another. "What? I was only _joking_."

"Samantha, please! Be more serious about this. I _said_ it was an accident!" Lady Lana said seriously.

My face did a complete 360 in less than 2.8 seconds. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. You mean to tell me that…"

"Yes, Samantha. He is indeed your father," she said to me.

* * *

"Wake up Samantha," Grams said to me. I was on the couch and it was time for school. 

"Okay," I responded grumpier than intended. My stomach felt in knots and it hurt to sit up. Suddenly, I glanced at a dark spot on the couch below me and wondered where it came from. Just then, I noticed an identical spot on _my_ pants. "Uh-oh," I said to myself. Somehow, Grams heard me and came over to where I was. She gasped and fluttered around aimlessly. "What Grams, what is it?" I wondered impatiently as she began pacing.

"Change out of those clothes and take a shower, quickly!" she bossed me. I got up (very painfully at that) and went to get ready for school. While I was in the bathroom, Grams handed me something in a yellow wrapping; it was what I had been dreading the most since Lady Lana mentioned it to me when I was ten (well, actually, I was nine, thanks to her), a pad.

I changed into it and took a bite of oatmeal, told Grams bye ("Bye-bye sweetie and take that Advil like I told you," she added.) and skated on my skateboard in howling pain. Cramps, she said I'd feel, and felt them I did. I stopped a few times to crouch down in pain, so it took twice as long to get to school.

I slipped into homeroom just as Mrs. Ambler took attendance. "Samantha, are you okay?" she asked me.

"I'm fine," I snapped unintentionally. Everyone glanced up at me.

"She just asked Sammy. Gosh, you don't have to be so rude about it!" Tawnee Francisco said to me. I glared at her in response. After the lesson, I went to math.

"Can _anyone_ please tell me how to solve _any_ of the equations on paper?" Miss Patil shouted at us. We stared at her blankly. "Anyone?"

"Can _any_one please tell me how she got caught teaching math. _Anyone_?" I mumbled to Marissa.

"Sammy? Do _you_ know how to solve yX2+5X-36?" Miss Patil asked me. I glared at her as she held out the chalk for me. I got up, walked to the front of the room (ouch!) and snatched the chalk away from her. I stood there, thoroughly embarrassed _and_ in pain. "You have to figure out what two terms when added together will give you 5X and when multiplied together gives you negative 36," she explained.

Huh? "Can you repeat that please?" I asked as calmly as my pride could muster.

"I _said_," Miss Patil exasperated as half of the class giggled at me, "what two numbers can you have when, if added together, you'll get five and, when you multiply them, you'll get negative 36?"

I thought. And thought. And thought. Well, when four subtracts from nine, you get five and…

Wait a minute!

"Seriously Miss Patil, do you really expect us to learn this in the eighth grade? Are you even following the curriculum?"

Everything just stopped. It was so quiet; you could actually hear the bugs skittering across a leaf branch. It was that quiet. Everyone gaped at me. Even Miss Patil looked angered, but so what?

"Do you want to let Mr. Caan in on my teaching methods, Samantha?" she asked, squaring off in my face.

"I should!" I said defiantly as we started a staring contest. "Do you even know what you are doing?" We never broke eye contact.

"I know _exactly_ what I am doing. I am a certified 8th grade math teacher. I _have_ my degrees," she said snobbishly.

"Are you sure about that?" I asked. She blinked in surprise, signifying that I won. I wrote: (X-4) (X+9) on the board and sat down again (ouch!)

Marissa, Dot and Holly stared at me and smiled. I could only muster out a pathetic one in return.

After math, science, and art, I was at the cafeteria table waiting for my friends,

"Sammy?" Marissa approached me with caution.

"It's okay Marissa, I'm not mad at you," I laughed as she sat down and began to unwrap her lunch. "You won't believe what Lady Lana did this time," I said angrily.

Marissa paused while in the process of taking a bite of hamburger. "W-what did she do this time?"

"Yeah, what other secret could your wacky mother hide from you?" Holly asked me as she sat down with her own lunch. At least her face regained its regular color. I assumed she wasn't upset anymore, at least she didn't make it noticeable.

"You will never, _ever_ believe this!" I said to them.

"What? Tell us!" Marissa, Dot (just walked in) and Holly said to me.

I took a deep breath and said, "Well, remember how I told you that Officer Borsch said he never liked children, but if he had one like me, he wouldn't trade her for the world?"

"Yeah. Wasn't that after we discovered those missing cats back in April?" Holly asked me. I nodded. "Well, what about that?"

"Well, let's just say that… he had no reason to trade me now," I said. They blinked at me. Only Marissa got the message.

"That is _so_ deeply messed up," she said. Holly and Dot had questionable looks on their faces.

"What I mean is that I'm a mini Officer Borsch!" Their eyes practically popped from their sockets.

"Whoa now. Your mom… and Officer Borsch… were _together_?" Dot asked politely. I nodded. "Wow," was all she could say.

"Oh wow Sammy," Holly said mercifully.

"I know!" I wailed. "I can't believe it either. Apparently, while I was asleep one day, they took DNA samples of me and matched to someone in the Police Department. Somehow, it linked right to Officer Borsch."

"Ew! What if they 'rendezvous' again and…" Marissa started. The four of us pushed away our lunches in disgust. "But is that why you're acting so snappish today?"

"NO! After the shock of all that, puberty finally hit," I said. Marissa inched her food even further from her contact. "What a week!"

"And it's only gonna get worse," Holly said as her eyes followed something. We followed her gaze and saw Heather, Tenille, and Monet approaching our table.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the geekiest, rudest, most vicious eighth graders in all history of geeky, rude, vicious eighth graders," Heather started.

"How nice of you to describe yourself to us. Too bad we don't care," Holly said snobbishly. Heather's face turned all sorts of red.

"Wow Sammy, I didn't know you could hand out with such losers!" Heather continued.

"Losers!" Tenille and Monet echoed her. The four of us gaped at her. I thought Marissa and Dot were losers for hanging out with _me_?

"Sammy, darlin', let me tell you something about how junior high works. You come in, you pick your friends wisely and you climb to the top. If you chose the _wrong_ friends, you miss out on all the great stuff and you are sucked into a pit of shame like your classless friends. So listen, my brother and I are having the biggest and best party in the century of parties. Loads of high school cuties and _every_thing. Casey would _love_ for _you_ to come. Maybe Marissa too, but other than that, no one else. Be there or be square." And with that, Heather and her pack of hyenas followed her.

"Was that weird, or was that weird?" Dot asked, her face pinched in a frown.

"Definitely," we agreed. Marissa couldn't help but blush.

"Maybe Danny will be there," she said.

"Yeah, well, we'll never know," I said to her. She cocked an eyebrow at me. "Because we won't be there to see him. We are _not_ going to her 'party of the century,'" I concluded. Now it was Marissa's turn to pout at me.

"But Sammy, she said Casey'll want you there," she tried to convince me.

"Just like she said that he'd rather kiss a codfish last year, was that even true?" Dot asked, smirking her head off.

"Well, no… but—"

"I think we should crash her 'party of the century,'" Holly said.

"Yeah! And we should find out some pretty wild things about her Royal rudeness in Red," Dot added, "like if she picks her nose or something."

Marissa, who finally managed a bite of hamburger, spat it out promptly. "EW!" she said in disgust.

I laughed indignantly. "No, I don't want to. Look, we're eighth graders now; we should at least start acting like it. We should lets things in the past stay a thing in the past."

Even though I'm dying to know whether or not she practices kissy faces in her mirror.

The three of them glared at me. "Ma'am, who are you, and what have you done with our snoopy Sammy Keyes?" Holly asked.

Marissa poked at my face. "Oh, this is Sammy all right." She slapped a hand on my forehead. "She's more loopy than snoopy."

"Get away!" I told her while smiling.

"Please Sammy? We just _have_ to go to that party! We just _have_ to!" Dot pleaded.

"Well, then _you_ go. Look, I'm crampy, I'm cranky, I'm hurty, I'm achy, I'm all sorts! I am _not_ emotionally stable for this party, you guys! Just… just go on without me, okay?" I whined.

* * *

Too bad I wasn't "firm" enough for them. I got sucked into their sick and twisted plot. 

Crap!

So, Dot is a "flower gypsy," Marissa is a genie ("'I dream of Jeannie' is my inspiration," says Marissa as I rolled my eyes), and Holly is herself (figures). As for me, I'm the Ice Monster of the Marshmallow Marsh, only 'cause I managed to get while spray paint and not green. Don't worry, I learned my lesson from the last time, trust me.

We were all walking to heather's house and when we got there, we rang the doorbell. Guess who answers the door?

Her mom.

Now, from what I remember of this estranged Candi Acosta, she had flamin' red hair, lime green spandex (and I'm talking _lime_ green) tights and some wacky shirt.

_This_ time, her hair was jet black, she had on a really bright pink colored shirt that was too teensy weensy, bright _yellow_ neon spandex and indigo knee-length boots.

"Are you here for Heather or Casey?" Candi demands snootily.

"Yes, we're here for Casey's sake," I say with even more sass than she does.

She glared and held the door open for us. Boy, was this party a riot! No less than forty beer bottles and cans were on the floor, high school seniors were doing a little more than swapping spit and playing tongue tennis with each other, four high school wannabes busied themselves in making and smoking tobacco products. As the four of us stepped further inside (and noticed how much sticky film laid on the floor), we realized that the high school wannabes were Tenille Toolee, Monet Jarlsberg, Taylor Briggs and…

"Casey?" I asked when I saw a mass of his brownish-reddish hair.

He paused in mid puff and noticed me (and I was suddenly aware of my ridiculous Ice Monster from the Marshmallow Marsh costume, _if_ that's what you called it). "Hey Sammy, how's it hangin'?" he asked me. I looked left and right and noticed that my friends were nowhere to be found. I felt time slow _way_ down as he approached me; those muscular shoulders, those long legs, those delicious pair of chocolately brown eyes (A/N: at this moment, if you are a big 'Simpsons' fan, you have to imagine Sammy doing a 'Hungry, Hungry Homer' growl)… wait, I have to snap out of my daze.

I blushed ferociously as he gave me a hug. No matter how red my face turned under my white mask, I couldn't ignore the horrid stench that filled my nostrils.

"Cool costume," he remarked as my nose twitched.

"You smoke? Since when?" I asked him.

"Well…" he stared, but someone yanked me from him and in front of a punch bowl.

"Sammy!" Marissa said as she shoved a cup of fruit punch in my face. "I didn't know Casey smoked!"

"Yeah, but he really did age over the summer," said Dot as she blinked a bunch through her bat wings (a.k.a. mascara). "Boy, this stuff's good." Dot gulped down her cup as if she was about to die of thirst and grabbed another cup.

"Dot!" Marissa, Holly and I exclaimed.

"What?" she asked and let out a huge burp. "Sorry!"

Holly eyed her, took up a glass as I began a sip of my own. Then she swirled her cup around and sniffed it. "You guys, this is, like, spiked completely with alcohol!"

Marissa and I spat out our sip and dropped our cups to the floor. Dot, however, drank at least two more cups before Holly abruptly slapped her drink from her hand.

Dot looked almost _appalled_ and shouted, "What did you do that for?"

"Oh, boy. This chick's a mean drunk," Holly said.

"I'm…I'm drunk?" Dot asked. We nodded. "Cool," she remarked and walked (or rather swayed) away from us.

"Oh, my God! I already had three _big_ cups!" Marissa and did the Mckenze dance. "But I'm really thirsty…" she started as she grabbed another glass. Holly slapped it away from her and glared.

"C'mon, let's go puke the alcohol from the system before it sinks in," holly said as she dragged Marissa to the bathroom. I heard Marissa ask about Dot and Holly responded with, "She's already lost…"

* * *

Probably a whole hour passes and I was already aching to go home. I still had cramps from… that special friend, my face felt sticky and hot, and I saw Dot dance all freakishly with at least four high school kids. One of them was being Taylor Briggs. Holly had already fallen asleep and Marissa was nowhere to be found. I heard a glass break and some idiots chanting, 'chug, chug, chug," over and over again. I shook my head in disbelief. 

"Hey Sams!" I heard someone tell me. I turned around to face Casey.

"Uh…" I said, getting up and nervously backing away from him. "I… I… I…" I ran to the bathroom and locked it.

I saw that the time on their wall and saw that it was only 8:15pm. Wait, I was here for only _twenty_ minutes?

Will this night ever end?

I used the bathroom and came back outside to see Heather's room door opened. Now, my stomach is telling me not to go inside, no energy is left for snooping. But my head, however, is telling me 'go snoop, what damage can be done?' As usual, my curiosity gets the better best of me.

I go inside and observe. She still had that ridiculous cow bedding on her itsy-bitsy bed. Basically, to sum it up, nothing really changed. I went under the bed (ouch!). Found nothing. Looked in her drawers. Found nothing. I checked in her closet. Nothing! Zip, zilch, nada!

I gave up and laid on her bed, but it felt kinda wrinkly underneath the bedspread. What did _I_ do? I folded over the sheets and saw several brochures for Santa Maria junior High. I looked through them.

Peculiar, very peculiar.

I already know her plan now. But what about exposing her about her _real_ self? I didn't care whether or not she wants to "be my friend" and whatnot.

During my look through, I didn't know someone was in the room until it was too late.

"Sammy! What are you doing here?" Heather asked me. Gulp!

I slid her brochures under the bed and turned to face hr. Is it possible to melt into a goop of embarrassment right now?

"I uh… uh," I started smartly. Did she even _need_ an explanation from me?

"Casey wants to talk to you," she said.

"Uh," I started again.

"C'mon Sammy, go talk to Casey," she said and dragged me out her room. She practically yanked me in the path of Casey, which therefore explains why I ran smack-dab into his chest.

"Hey Sams," he greeted me. I felt lightheaded around him. He began dancing me across his sticky floor. Where did he get his grace? Last time I remembered, we _both_ sucked at dancing. Farewell dance, remember?

OY!

I cleared my throat and said nothing for all of three seconds before: "Freeze! Cut the music and freeze!"

Everything just stopped in a heartbeat, and you better believe that mines skipped about… a lot of them!

A big, muscled up officer came and entered the household. He scanned around the beer bottles. "Gil, get in here!"

My heart did a bad lurch when none other than Gil Borsch entered right behind muscles.

"Is there any type of _adult_ supervision here at all?" asked Daddy Borsch. Ugh! My father, the _cop_? It's all that stupid bat I call my mother's fault.

Candi Acosta managed to reenter her trashed living room while holding the hand of… Jared Salcido? **A/N: remember him?** I scrunched up my face in disgust. I guess Casey saw it too, 'cause he dropped me onto his sticky, film-covered floor faster than you can say 'drop' in the middle of a semi-romantic dip.

"Yes, I am the adult. Who's askin'?" Candi asked with plenty o' attitude.

"The Santa Martina police force," Borsch replied with even more attitude. Candi's face and hand fell rapidly. "You, ma'am, are under arrest for alcohol possession, promoting underage drinking, endangering the welfare of children among many, many, _many_ other felonies. You have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law," he started and fed her the rest of the rights as everyone else scrambled before phone numbers can be taken down. Only Casey, Marissa, Dot, Holly, Heather and I remained unchanged.

"You can't arrest my _mother_! I'll sue!" Heather shouted. "I'll sue for… for… for… for…for…for…for…for…" she let out a barbaric screech and lunged for Officer Borsch and planted punches in his pudgy stomach. He let out an "oomph" and let go of Candi Acosta. Candi then began running all over her living room trying to ditch the Borschman and his partner (I guess). All the while, Marissa, Casey and I watched in horror as Holly and Dot were passed out on the couch.

Finally, Marissa puts herself in front of Candi and shoved her toward me, who accidentally tripped her right into Muscles.

"Gotcha!"

"Noooooooooooooo!" wailed Candi as she was led away by Muscles. Officer Borsch remained. When Muscles came back, he held another pair of handcuffs and walked over to Heather.

"Noooooooooooooo!" screeched Heather, but she was easily handcuffed. "I'm gonna sue! Just you wait!"

Shut up!" said Borsch. When that was done, Officer Borsch scanned the area and finally saw me on the floor. "Sammy, I thought you knew better."

"I do!" I said as I tried to peel myself off the sticky film. It took Officer Borsch and Marissa to help me up.

"Then why Sammy?"

"Why what?" I snapped.

"Why do you _always_ get tangled up in this sort of mess? Why do you _always_ place yourself and your friends in danger?"

"I do _not_ always place them in trouble and trouble goes around looking for _me_!" I complained.

"Well, just be careful in what you do next time Sammy."

"Why do you all of a sudden care, Officer Borsch? You never cared before, remember? I'm a snot nosed kid? Well, guess what? I am _not_ a snot nosed kid. If you must insist, I'm a snot nosed _woman_, okay? I have absolutely no patience or tolerance for your stupid crap _or_ your accusations! I am on my bloody and crampy period and I WANNA GO HOME! NOW!" I screamed. Casey and Marissa stared in shock and I woke up Dot and Holly.

"Huh? Where am I mommy?" Dot said groggily.

"Meg, Vera?" Holly said.

"Fine, I'll drop you home, because I care Sammy. I have a right to care, don't I?" he said calmly.

"Only biologically!" I screamed at him.

"Everyone, gather your stuff," he said as he avoided eye contact with me.

We all piled up into the squad car, feeling bunched up. Just then, Casey pulled me on his lap and there was suddenly more space. Marissa sent suggestive looks and I glared.

"Hey! Why don't we all stay at me house. I don't mind. I've got plenty of space, no problem," offered Marissa. So we each called out parents ("Dad! You won't believe it, mom got arrested!" laughed Casey as we harshly cleared our throats), got sleeping clothes and all went to Marissa's "house" (if you wanna call it that) on East Jasmine. Casey had to sleep in a different room, but us girls got to stay up.

"Casey let you sit on his lap!" said Marissa, which thus turned the conversation to "talk about Sammy and Casey." In response, I pulled the covers over my head and fell asleep.

* * *

Wake up Sammy!" someone shook me awake. It was Holly. 

"Huh?" I mumbled.

"School, remember?" she said.

Crap!

I got up, showered, dressed, and went to eat breakfast with everyone.

"Ooh, Marissa had a boy in the house! Ma!" screeched Mikey early in the morning.

"Can it, you pudgy boy! Stop shouting!" Dot said meanly. We turned to look at her and giggled. "Gosh, Marissa, are you _ever_ gonna answer you phone?"

"The phone isn't ringing, Dot," Marissa told her.

"Well, _some_thing is," she replied.

"I think you need not go to school today," Holly told her.

"Hey, what about me?" I wondered. Holly shrugged. "I'm crampy!" I whined.

"Take some Advil them," piped in Casey as he held out his hand and offered me two pills. "And Dot, here, you need some too."

"What for? She asked but took the pills anyway.

"Because you have the meanest hangover _ever_," said Holly.

"Why?" she asked. "What's a hangover?"

"A hangover is the aftermath of being drunk," I explained.

"What's I get drunk for?" she mumbled. We giggled at her and got ready for school.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Marissa, where'd you get that top from?" asked holly to Marissa.

"Yolanda's closet, of course," she replied.

A few minutes later, after I set Dot straight on hangovers ("Damn, I can't believe I got drunk!") and Holly set Marissa straight on her outfit, we were out the door. Holly, Dot, Casey, and I rode our skateboards as Marissa rode her bike. A few blocks from the school and we ended up losing Marissa and her bike. Casey had to go to school and the rest of us ventured the trip to school.

The first half of the day went by dully. History, announcements ("Run for class president," mumbled Mrs. Ambler bitterly.), art, science, a new beginning of Spanish and finally, lunch came.

"What happened to Marissa?" Holly asked me.

I shrugged. "She's been gone since this morning," I said. Holly's facial expression changed completely. I followed her gaze to see Miss Patil coming towards our table. I rolled my eyes.

"Samantha whatever your middle name is Keyes!" she shouted.

"It's Jo," I said calmly. "Samantha Jo Keyes."

"WHATEVER! I will have you put in juvie just like you had my precious niece get taken away to juvie!" she continued to squawk. Everything just froze in our busy cafeteria.

"Lady, what could you _possibly_ be talking about now?" I shouted at her.

"You put my niece in juvie and my sister in jail!" she screamed at me. Holly shrugged her shoulders in confusion.

"Miss Patil, I don't even know your niece _or_ your sister!" I tried to say calmly, but I was already in pieces.

"Yes, you do!"

"No, I don't!" I screamed.

Finally, she whipped out a picture of Candi, Heather, Casey and herself. "Look, it's me, my sister Candice, my niece Heather, and my nephew Casey. You put my sister in jail because of your stupid tactics! You will pay Sammy Keyes, oh, yeah. I will _make_ you pay!"

As she sauntered away and pushing an excited Dot in the process ("Watch it! Dot yelled.), Holly and I gaped in shock.

"Ew, a Candi Acosta clone!" Holly said while she scrunched up her face in disgust.

"I knew she looked like _some_one I know," I said in agreement.

Dot slid into the bench and panted for breath. "Guys! I saw Marissa!"

I cocked a curious eyebrow at her. "Okay," I said slowly. Dot dropped her lunch, got up and dragged us towards the patio. "Dot! It's cold out there!"

"So?" she said as we bundled up and followed her.

And there she was, all "grown" and whatnot. "_Marissa_!" the three of us said to her.

* * *

A/N: Ooh! Cliffhanger. I'm lovin' it. Cliffie, cliffie, cliffie. I love them, don't you? Anywho, that's all for this chapter. I want reviews (please?) 

Ooh, and I have a question: in my next chappie, someone else is getting kidnapped, who will it be? If you correctly answer my question, I'll actually give you something semi-tangible. I'll email the winner my chapter a week or so before I actually update it. Isn't that cool? So, get to guessing and good luck to all. Bye!


	8. Seven: Another One Goes

Disclaimer: (Holds potions in hands) I've done it! I have created a Wendelin van Draanen Potion. Now, if I can just… (Invisible forces) drink… it… aaaaaaah! I can't drink the potion! (The bottle smashes to the floor) Nooooooooo!

…

Now, that's what would happen if I _ever_ tried to steal Sammy Keyes away from the brilliant Wendelin Van Draanen. I don't own it, I just don't, okay?

A/N: Oy! I kill me. Anywho, (insert name) correctly guessed the person who got kidnapped, so (insert gender) got to see my chapter before the lot of you. Happy reading!

Seven

"_Marissa_!" the three of us said to her.

Marissa jumped up in a hot second. "Uh," she said, coming up with the lame excuse of, "I… I… I fell and… my lips just have a mind of it's own!"

Danny got up as well. "Well, I should get back to school." He shared one last kiss with Marissa, who was impossibly red, either from the cold or from embarrassment, and left.

"Uh… um… uh," Marissa began while doing the Mckenze dance. I tapped my foot at her. "I meant to just say 'hi' for a second. I lost track of time, really. And what time is it?"

"It's _lunch_!" Holly said, as if it weren't obvious.

Marissa's eyes bugged _way_ out. "Oh, no!" she wailed, "my morning classes!"

"Mmm-hmm," Dot put in while shaking her head in disgrace. Marissa shrugged.

"Danny told me that Casey's dad flipped out when he had to bail Heather out of juvie," Marissa said, trying her hardest to change the subject.

"No wonder you wore that shirt today! Missy, you are in trouble!" Holly stated in an accusing tone of voice.

"Speaking of Casey," Marissa started again while avoiding Holly's glare.

I threw up my hands in frustration and said, "_Marissa_! Stop talking about him."

"But he wants to be your boyfriend," she told me.

"And did _your_ boyfriend tell you this Marissa?" Holly asked her.

"Yes, and so did Casey," Marissa answered back matter-of-factly.

Holly and Marissa continued to argue and lecture each other as I looked at Dot.

"It's true. Casey told me last night," she said to me. I groaned. "_And_ he kissed you on the cheek."

"WHEN?" I asked.

"Oh, just last night," Dot replied slyly as we walked back inside the school.

"I can't talk to you guys. The lot of you are hell of a crazy bunch," I say while shaking my head in disgrace.

"If you're so unconcerned about Casey liking you, why are you blushing?" Dot asked me.

"I'm not blushing," I said, though I felt my cheeks turn redder and redder by the passing second. She smirked at me as I went to math class.

And there she was, her face and her hair was impossibly red, she was rubbing her temple, and for the first time since I met the fire engine, Heather actually looked… well, _vulnerable_. I still sat far away from her, deciding not to take the risk. After all, it _was_ "my fault" she was in juvie in the first place.

"Oh, Sammy! I had the _worst_ night!" said Heather when she saw me take out my books. I looked around and hoped for another person named Sammy in the class.

Is she really addressing me?

"Huh?" I managed to say real intelligently after my state of confusion.

She got up, walked over to where I was and sat down right next to me. "My _dad_ had to get me from juvie last night, and I got lectured. _Then_ I woke up late and missed _all_ of my classes. Now this!" she explained to me. I looked at her as she showed me a bruise on her arm. "I got this from stupid Billy Pratt!"

Way to go Billy!

The she did the inevitable.

Yeah, I'm tellin' ya!

She _sobbed_! I'm tellin' ya the leaky faucets ran. And guess _where_ the leaky faucets ran?

On me.

Heather Acosta, who has been my archenemy since she told stupid Taylor Briggs that I looked like a fourth grader, was sobbing on _my_ shoulder. Marissa, Dot, and Holly all gave me weird looks when I looked to my right. When I looked to my _left_, however, Tenille and Monet glared. Monet even sent me a note, which read, "Leave Heather alone or else!"

I busted up laughing at them both. "Oh, Sammy!" she wailed. Holly's eyes bugged out and Dot looked at Heather in disgust.

"Sorry I'm late, class. But I had family business to tend to," said Miss Patil when she walked in the room. I can't believe she's Casey's aunt.

I'd believe you if you said she was _Heather's_ aunt, no doubt about that.

But never Casey's. They're nothing alike.

Then again, Casey and Heather are nothing alike. Casey and _Candi_ are nothing alike.

Maybe I was hallucinating when I saw Casey smoking. I mean, that's nothing like him. I hope.

I really hoped I was hallucinating. After all… ah, forget it. I have no explanation for anyone's behavior.

Miss Patil really _does_ look like Candi Acosta, now that I see it. Was Candi Acosta really Candi _Patil_ Acosta? Why did she keep her married name? I know Casey's father is Warren Acosta. Candice Patil. Hmm, it didn't sound right. Candice Patil, Candice Patil, Candice Patil, Candice Patil…

"SAMANTHA!" screeched Miss Patil as the class redirected their attention to me. I felt my face go red as the class excepting Heather (oh, brother!), Holly, Dot and Marissa laughed at me.

"What?" I squawked back at her.

"My goodness, will you _ever_ pay attention to your surroundings?" she asked me. I gaped at her.

"Hey, it is _not_ my damn fault that your stupid sister got arrested!" I screamed at her. The class turned to me and gawked at me.

"Hey, my _mom_ isn't stupid Sammy. She just made a mistake, that's all," Heather said, surprisingly calm.

"Leave me alone. All of you!" I screamed as I grabbed my backpack and left the classroom. I headed straight to the office and stayed there. While in there, I decided to snoop. I looked at everyone's punch card. I saw Ms. Rothhammer's card. She punched in at precisely 8:30 am today. Mr. Vince… did not even come in today. And whatever happened to Mr. Tiller? His card isn't even in. He probably got tired of dealing with us _teenagers_. I glanced at all the possible teachers and when I finally came to Miss Patil, her punch in time was 12:15pm of today. No wonder. She really did bail Candi out… I guess.

"Samantha, what are you doing out of class?" said Mr. Caan to me. Gulp.

"I, uh… was sent to the office for my outburst in class today," I half-and-half told the truth and lied.

He grunted, "Mmm-hmm. And who sent you here?"

"Miss Patil," I said.

"This woman again?" he asked in disbelief. I nodded and smiled. So, I wasn't the only one who had problems with the deranged woman. "So, Samantha, what seems to be the problem this time?" asked Mr. Caan to me. I shrugged. Toed the carpet with my hightops.

"I think she has it in for me. I mean, it seems that everything I do, she's always calling me out in her classroom. I don't like it at all, Mr. Caan. _And_, she came late to school. Shouldn't there be a rule against that or _some_thing?" I explained to him.

He grunted and stared at me like I was crazy. "What?? It's true! And she always smells weird. Kinda like... I don't know, chloroform?"

"Chloroform, Sammy?" Mr. Caan asked me in disbelief. Slowly, but surely, I nodded at him. "Now, this is rediculous Sammy. I can't have you accusing the teachers of kidnapping children. This isn't acceptable. I think I'm going to give you detention and keep you in the box until you change your perspectives on your teachers." He stood up, handed me a pre-made slip and tried to rush me out of the office. Ms. Patil was right there, standing and watching me like a hawk.

I stood inside of the office, shaking my head in disbelief as I heard Mr. Caan saying things like, "I'm sorry you had to hear that Miss Patil," and "she probably should eat a more balanced breakfast before coming to school."

That's it, I quit.

Everytime I try to tell someone something, they go right back to thinking I'm a little kid, all over again. Ugh!

I walked into the detention room to serve my detention (again, caused by Miss Patil).

I went there, feeling broody all over again. Why do these things always happen to me?

No one but me.

After that, I went to the mall with Marissa where she was trying to babysit a kid called Mikey McKenze who would not stay still if his life depended on it.

"Mikey!" Marissa scolded at him. "Would you stay still?"

"But I'm hungry!" he whined as he stomped his feet a couple of times. I tried not to make eye contact with the people who stopped in the middle of the mall to watch Mikey whine and moan about how hungry he was.

"Sammy, could you pretty please watch Mikey while I try to scour some alien butt?"

"Why do _I_ have to watch him? He's _your_ responsibility you know. I'm just about tired of doing everyone's dirty work and not getting enough credit for it!"

"Sammy? Why are you being like this? You know it's the score that counts on my games, and you've always done this for me in the past. Why can't you be a little more sympathetic about this?"

"Excuse me? Ever since you got yourself a little boyfriend, you have been drastically changing!" I yelled at her. From the corner of my eye, I saw Mikey quietly sneaking away.

"Well, ever since you got that stupid puberty dealy thingy, _you've_ been acting all mean and everything to everyone, Samantha, so don't even start this stupid crap with me!"

"Noo!" I heard a muffled scream.

"Marissa?"

"What Samantha?"

"Where's Mikey?"

Marissa's face went from angry and red to panicky and pale in a hot second. "Mikey?"

"I could've sworn I heard him scream not too long ago," I said.

"So why didn't you tell me?" whined Marissa to me.

"Were you or were you not just yelling at me about _my_ stupid body just now?" I say meanly. We gave one last look and dashed down the corridors of the mall, in a desperate search of Mikey.

When we finally got outside, we saw Mikey putting up a struggle with some strong people, and the people were winning.

"LET HIM GO RIGHT NOW!" we screamed. Figures, they never listen to us kids.

"NO! MIKEY!!!" Marissa screeched in helplessness.

Gosh, what a way to end a day, huh?

* * *

Please review! PLease, please, please! Thanks:-D 


	9. Eight: Oh Boy!

****

Disclaimer:

I am not Wendelin Van Draanen. Plain and simple. On the plus side, all y'all aren't her neither, for all those Sammy Keyes fanfic writers. See? We're on the same page. Lovely!

**A/N:**Hello! I'm back and here to stay . . . well, at least until I go to college. Happy reading!

**Eight**

Marissa wailed with her head on Dad's desk. Damn, I _still _can't get used to saying that. Oy!

"Mr. Officer Borsch sir, what am I gonna do?" Marissa asked him while wiping her grief-stricken eyes and looking up at him, hoping and praying for an answer to her question.

He just shook his head in disbelief and turned to his computer. I stared at him in disbelief. When he felt my stare, he asked, "Yeah Sammy, what's on your mind?"

I just kept staring at him, wondering how he and Lana met, what did she do, how did she find out she was having me. These questions were bothering me too much.

"Officer Borsch, how did you meet Lana?" I asked him. Though I felt Marissa's glare, I kept my eye on Borsch.

"Well, Sammy, it's a long and complicated story," he responded while rubbing his temple.

"Hey! I thought we were supposed to be focusing on my little brother Mikey who was... you know, _kidnapped_!" Marissa wailed again.

"Well, Lana came into the office, this very office, and she asked for a band-aid. I told her to hold on while I checked my drawers for one. So, she sat down on the waiting bench right outside and I searched and searched for a band-aid. When I broke the news to her that I couldn't find one for her, she said to me, 'well, that's okay. It's just a minor paper cut.'"

How did I manage to figure out that Lana was going to be a drama queen from the start?

"She made me feel a little guilty because I wasn't helping a citizen in need of help," he continued with a dreamy look on his face. This emitted an eye roll from me and a blank stare from Marissa.

"So, I offered to take her to dinner, and of course, I _did_ refer her to a popular drug store, right by where the wrestling place was, before it was a wrestling place, before it was the book store.

"Next thing you know, we're chatting it up about everything and anything. I asked to see her again, but she said something about going to an audition for a television show. Next thing you know... she had you. I don't know. What was I supposed to do? I was on my job for three years prior to your birthday, so I wasn't gonna quit my job..."

"Look, I'm really sorry to interrupt your picture perfect memory," said Marissa with steady tears dripping down her eyes, "but I'm gonna get in trouble if you _don't help me find Mikey_!" she shouted angrily.

"Oh, jeeze Marissa, I'm sorry!" I said sincerely. "But you were the one arguing with me about how my body is changing and worrying about the same game you keep beating over and over again instead of watching your brother."

"I asked if you could help me!"

"_He's not my responsibility_!" I shouted at her.

"But you're my friend! And you're supposed to help me. You helped me all those other times, why can't you help me now?"

I looked down into my lap. I feel bad, but... I mean, I have a life too! I'm tired of helping people and not getting enough credit for it.

Not realizing that I said this out loud, Marissa got up and walked away in tears. Officer Borsch said, "Sammy, you can never feel like you don't get enough credit for what you do. Over the past year since we've known each other, you've helped me with some of the most difficult cases a police officer could ever receive. And you know what?" He got up, and pulled away a curtain hiding some long lost awards. "This one is for your outstanding work, even though you weren't supposed to even see it until you got the invite for the actual awards ceremony.

"Look Sammy, I told them that you helped us with the past nine cases we've had so far and I'm the one who told them that you deserved an award too. After all, you get those investigative genes from me!"

My eyes bugged out and I gaped at him. "Officer Borsch! You told them that?" I asked him in disbelief. He nodded. "Oh, man! What am I gonna do?"

"What you _are_ going to do is be a friend to your friend, pretend we never had this conversation about this award you're supposed to be getting, and think about coming to live with me."

"Okay, okay, I'll pretend to... wait, _what?_"

"Goodbye Sammy, I've already talked to your grandmother."

"But... but... but! You just said come and _live_ with you? _Live with you_?" I shouted the last part.

"I'll talk to you next week, when you're more stable, bye Sammy," He finalized by shooing me away and closing his office door.

Live with the Borsch man? He's has _got_ to be kidding me!

Shaking it off, I decided to walk home, skateboard in my hands, but I saw Marissa walking next to me.

"What am I gonna do Sammy? I can't go home like this, not without Mikey," Marissa asked me. I stayed quiet. "Look, Sammy, I don't want you to think that I'm taking you for advantage, I'm really not. I do things for you and you do things for me, that's what friends do. And last time I checked, we're still friends, right?" I didn't answer her. I was thinking about that little piece of info Borsch man conveniently forgot to mention. _Me_? _Live_ with the _Borsch man_?

"Oh, man Sammy. Does that mean you don't wanna be friends with me anymore? I'm really sorry," she said. And then she completely broke down crying.

"Marissa! I wasn't ignoring you, I'm sorry. Of course we're still friends, and I'll definitely help you get Mikey back. But I don't think that there's a chance that we will get him back tonight, so you're just gonna have to face your mom. And I'm really sorry about Mikey, I really am."

Marissa got back up and hugged me really tightly. And that's the way we kept walking home, with her hugging me.

* * *

But when we got inside of her house, things weren't as forgiving as she'd hope.

"Marissa Annette McKenze! I just got a call from you school saying that you missed all of your morning classes? _Your morning classes_?" Mrs. McKenze yelled at Marissa. You bet Marissa's arms dropped from my sides real quick. "It's seven o'clock in the night! What business do you have at _seven o'clock in the night time_? And where did you get that shirt Marissa, from my closet? _You went in my closet again Marissa_?"

"Mom, I have some really bad news, and before I tell you, I'm really, really, _really_ sorry for everything, from missing my classes to going in your room to losing Mikey 'cause he got abducted."

Marissa's mom's face drained of all the little color she had in it and fainted. I went to her and felt her pulse, which was strong, but faltering. "Oh, man, Marissa, I bet this day can't get any worse."

Marissa went to her room, sobbing. I followed her. I seen her collapse on her bed in hysterical tears. "S-s-s-s-Sammy! I'm in s-s-s-so m-m-m-much t-t-trouble! I want to play with s-s-s-Speedy!"

So, I went to get Speedy from his cage and I practically threw him at Marissa.

The I went to go check on her mom, but her father was already helping her up, so I went back to Marissa's room where she looked at me in horror.

"Sammy! Speedy's not breathing!" she screamed at me in horror as I cringed. I mean, I did practically throw the hamster at her.

"I'm _so_ sorry Marissa! I didn't mean to hurt him!" I pleaded with her.

"No, no, it's not your fault Sammy. I forgot to feed him for like, three days."

"_Marissa_!" I scolded her. It was her turn to cringe. "Why would you forget to feed him?"

"_Sammy_! I'm sorry! What are you doing?" she asked me as I began pacing the room, wandering, thinking.

First, Meg and Vera, now Mikey, who's next? And why? I can't help but think about the relationship between Mikey, Meg and Vera. Let's look at it like this, Meg and Vera's relationship to Holly is her guardians. Mikey is Marissa's brother.

"I think that whoever is kidnapping people must know and not like us, because they have found a way to kidnap people close to us." Not realizing that I said this out loud, Marissa gave me a blank look.

"Really, you really think so?" Marissa asked me.

"Um, well, let's see. Whoever is doing this must realize that taking away Meg and Vera would hurt Holly and taking Mikey away would hurt you."

"Actually, I'm kinda glad that Mikey's not here. I mean, I could—"

"_Marissa_! You're missing the whole entire point! The point is that he's your brother, and Meg and Vera are Holly's parents. I mean, c'mon, as much as I don't... _agree_ with my mom, I would be very hurt if someone took her away from me to hurt me. Thus succeeding! And no, I don't mean Hollywood Marissa, come on!" I added when she looked at me and thinking about our situation, how we had to shake some sense into Lady Lana.

Marissa then began doing the McKenze dance. "So, do you think we've found a motive?"

"I don't know, and as much as it's killing me right now, I guess we'll have to wait and see. You know, before making a prediction."

"I guess so then," Marissa said to me as she danced around with a non-breathing Speedy.

* * *

At school the next day, all I could think about was who could be the next to be kidnapped. I mean, I hope I'm not right, but if I am, for all I know, Hudson and Grams could be next. Or one of Dot's... many siblings. Or even... my mom.

Ugh!

"I hate this!" I shouted at my thoughts during Miss Patil's class. Oops.

"If you do not want to learn about factorials, leave the class, now!" Miss Patil shouted at me.

"I didn't mean 'I hate this' as in the lesson Miss Patil," I tried to reason with her for a change.

"Oh?" she asked in mock concern.

"I wasn't even paying attention to your class! I was thinking about something else!"

Oh crap!

"Leave, now!" she shouted at me, while pointing to the door. Without anymore argument, I packed up my books and left the classroom, slamming the door behind me. As I was walking away, I heard Miss Patil shout to the class, "And if anyone wants to join her, feel free to do so!"

Next thing you know, Marissa, Dot, Holly and (ugh) Heather were all walking behind me.

"So, Sammy, what were you thinking about so hard that made you say 'I hate this!'?" Holly asked me.

"Well, as I was telling Marissa yesterday, I think we might have found a motive—"

"A motive for what Sammy?" Heather asked me.

I turned to her sharply and said, "None of your _business_, Heather Acosta!"

"But Sammy, I wanna know!" Dot told me.

I quickened my pace and said, "I'll tell you guys later. At lunch or something."

I went into the cafeteria and ran into Danny. "Um, hey Danny, if you're looking for Marissa, she's on her way because we got kicked out of class and —"

"We need to talk Sammy," he said to me in a serious tone of voice.

I frowned at him. "About Marissa? Look Danny, she really likes you and if you wanna talk about breaking her heart, I'll talk about breaking your nose and—"

"Sammy! I wanted to talk to you about Casey."

I hushed up and felt my face turn hot.

Damn.

He sat down at our table and folded his hands in a serious manner. "Look Sam, as you probably have heard numerously, Casey really likes you."

"Danny, I appreciate what you're trying to do but—"

"He really likes you. And I know my best friend better than the back of my hand. Casey isn't a quitter."

"Okay..." I said in confusion.

"At that party that Casey and Heather threw, he wasn't smoking. I was trying to tell him not to continue to hang around Taylor and his family because people will mistake him for a person he's nothing like."

Huh? Now I was _really_ confused.

"But he smelled of smoke! I smelled the smoke on his breath!"

"That wasn't him that approached you!"

"Then who was it?" I shouted at him.

Danny stood up and sat me back down. "That was Taylor that approached you. The smoke was so... overwhelming that you mistook Taylor for Casey."

"So who was the one slow dancing with me?" I asked him.

"_That_ was Casey. Think about it Sammy, brushing your teeth once doesn't make tobacco go away. You'd have to brush your teeth for about an hour before it all goes away, or part of it. And the party ended half an hour after you guys came. When Casey danced with you, did he smell of smoke?"

Going back to when Casey made me dance with him before Officer Borsch and his partner busted the party... "Um, no, not that I remember. I don't think so."

"Exactly Sammy!" he said to me.

I looked down in embarrassment, realizing that he was right. Oh man, I should've known that Casey was the anti-drug of himself and others.

"Listen Sammy, you're my girlfriend's best friend, and from what Marissa has told me, and from what I have seen myself, you're a very cool person. I know that Casey is making the right decision about the person you are. Now it's your turn. Don't you think that Casey's a cool guy?"

"I-I guess so," I mumbled.

"And don't you always have fun around him, no matter what you're doing? _Not_ counting the recent turn of events," Danny asked me.

"Yes," I mumbled as my face flushed even more red.

"And don't you find it easy to talk to him? As easy as talking to Marissa?" I didn't answer him, 'cause he already knew the answer to that one. "So, tell me now Sam, do you like Casey as a friend or as more than a friend?"

"I like him as a friend!" I shouted incredulously as the cafeteria began to get busy.

"Yeah, okay. When you decide to either tell me the truth or tell me that BS answer without blushing, tell Missy that you'd like to talk to me again, okay Sammy?"

Marissa spotted Danny at our table, just as he was getting up to leave. I sat there gaping at Danny and thinking about our conversation, as Marissa gave Danny a peck on the cheek.

I wish Casey would do that for me.

Wait, what am I saying? Oh, man, I'm really losing it.

* * *

So, for the rest of lunch, I was so disoriented that I forgot all about my PB&J sandwich until we got to gym and science where in science, I got detention for eating one half of the sandwich in the classroom and at gym, I received a nutritional sheet from Coach Rothhammer, stating what to eat on a diet, just for scarfing down the other half.

She _actually_ said I was getting _husky_! Can you believe her?

Me, _husky_?

Shaking my head at her after softball practice, I went on my skateboard heading to the high rise. When I began to approach the fire escape, my mind began wandering all over again, which made me go right back to the police station.

* * *

"Officer Borsch!" I shouted at the front desk lady.

"I'm sorry, he's not here right now. He'll be here for the late night shift. Are you available after nine o'clock?"

Shaking my head at her, I went to search for his patrol car.

* * *

With my mind wandering so much, it will amaze me 'till my eighties how I narrowly missed Casey.

"Whoa there" he said to me as he held me steady, As usual, I couldn't look him directly in the eyes. "Sammy, are you okay? Do you need help with anything?" he asked me.

I felt my face flush. "Um, actually, it's a private matter in which I _kinda_ need to handle by myself. But thanks for asking anyways!" I tried to sidestep him, but he wasn't letting me off the hook that easily.

"So... I guess you don't want me to help?" he asked me. I shook my head. "And I guess you don't wanna talk about us either?" I shrugged. "Would it help if we went to your friend Hudson's house?" That's when I finally look at him and smiled. "Is that a yes?" I nodded. Then we both took off to Hudson's house.

Good ol' Hudson, He always know how to help me out of a jam.

"Hiya Hudson, long time, no see!" I called out to him.

"Hey Sammy! Hey Casey! C'mon, grab a chair! What's on your mind?" Hudson greeted us.

I was about to spill the beans when Casey began to explain how much he hated high school and the upperclassmen were picking on him and Danny because Danny goes out with a "middle schooled baby," and Casey has a crush on a "snot nosed kid," meaning me.

Great!

"Eh, it's what high school is about. Now it's time to figure out how to deal with it and get out of it alive. Casey, all you have to do is—"

Cutting Hudson off, he then began to babble on about how Heather was driving him up the wall about trying to be friends with me and how I haven't seen the "reformed" Heather Lacy Acosta. He also talked about his mom being on his case for befriending me and poisoning Heather's brain and his dad was on his case about joining the wrestling team because Casey wants to join the baseball team.

When he finally stopped for a breath, Casey found Hudson with his eyebrow raised _way_ high and me gaping at him. I think a fly flew into my mouth in this time.

"Well... that's quite a lot on your shoulders, Casey. As I was saying before, all you have to do is take a deep breath and say—"

"Say, 'Heather, shut up! Sammy doesn't wanna be your friend! Mom, I don't cause if you don't like my friends! Dad, I'm joining the baseball team whether you like it or not, because I like baseball!'" I told him.

"Casey stood up and shouted, "Yeah! I love baseball because Sammy got me so interested in it!"

I must've been glaring at Casey because Hudson said to me, "Now calm down Sam. This should be a good thing. I think."

"Yeah," I said slowly as Casey blushed. "Anyways, we came to sort out _my_ head, please Hudson?"

"Sure, sure," he said.

"Sorry Sam," Casey said to me. "What were you rushing about anyways?"

"Well..." I said and then I told them about Meg and Vera's kidnapping and how it affected Holly and how Mikey got kidnapped. Then I also threw in that fact that Officer Borsch is my dad and how weird that is, and then I also let it slip that I thought Casey was a smoker.

Oops!

"Why would you think I'd do that? I hate smoking," Casey explained to me as he stared me down.

I blushed. "I mean, I realize that now, thanks to Danny. But why do you still hang around them?"

Casey hung his head down low. "I honestly don't know anymore. I mean, they've gotten me into a lot of trouble at their New Years Eve party."

I remember that party, when me and Casey accidentally met, I mean..._ afte_r the whole skateboard incident.

"Yeah, and why did you withhold my skateboard for so long?" I asked him.

"I wasn't withholding it. That was Taylor. And _Taylor_ withheld it because he liked Marissa, so withholding your skateboard would make you want it back and then... wait, didn't we already _have_ this discussion?"

"So? I wanna know again, 'cause I forgot how it happened."

"Maybe you just liked hearing about how much time we spent together during Operation: Skateboard Retrieval," he said to me.

"I don't think so," I said as he pushed his chair away and stood up.

"Oh, but Sammy Keyes, I _know_ so. You liked our time together, didn't you?"

I blushed even more (if possible). "That's not true Casey Acosta! That was strictly business!"

"Oh, but at the farewell dance? What about that time we spent together then?"

"That was business too!" I shouted at him.

"Oh, yeah Sammy? Wanna say that with a straight face?" he asked me, getting closer and closer to me.

"It... was... strictly... business... _Casey_!" I enunciated. We were practically nose to nose right now, I thought he was gonna lean the extra ½ inch to kiss me. And I was prepared for it too. As I felt the heat emit from his lips close to mines...

"Sammy! I finally found you!" I heard someone shout at me. Casey and I turned around to face Holly and Dot. We blushed, caught almost in the act.

"My brother Stan said that he went to go pick up Beppie, but she wasn't there. Then when he went to look for Anneke, she said that some hooded black figure snatched Beppie!" Dot said in a rush, wiping her eyes.

Oh, man, this is what I was afraid of.

"So where's Anneke?" Casey asked Dot

"She's at home! But Beppie is missing!" Dot exclaimed.

"Come on, we need to find Anneke to find the... the... thingy!" Holly said.

So we said our goodbyes to Hudson and set off on our skateboards all the way across town to Sisquane to Dot's house where we stayed for New Years. After we got Anneke to identify how the van looked, we tagged her along to help us search.

"It was somewhere around here! A person came and snatched her too quickly!" Anneke said in a small voice. I can tell she was scared to even experience this.

We looked all over the place for Beppie and she was nowhere to be found. Then the events took a shocking toll.

After Casey announced that he was due back home, I ran into Officer Borsch and went to report Beppie missing. He said he will begin circling flyers in the morning. While I was doing that, Dot and Holly let out a sickening screech and wheels went skidding and skateboards hit the asphalt.

I turned around and ran towards Holly and Dot, Holly with a big gash on her knee and Dot's nose bleeding heavily.

"Someone just snatched Anneke!" Dot said nasally.

"How did that happened?" I asked in disbelief.

"We were gonna tell you to report Beppie missing and then I had Anneke on my back and whoever it was pushed me and Dot to the floor and took Anneke away!" Holly said in a shaking voice.

As soon as she finished her story, we saw the getaway van. It was a black Dodge caravan. So, I jumped onto my skateboard and chased after it.

"Sammy! Where are you going?" Holly shouted at me.

I skated on my skateboard as fast as I could to see the van, but all I could make out was the license plate, which was no use to me.

When I skated back towards them, Officer Borsch looked at me hopefully. "I couldn't see who it was!" I said. Then I added, "But I heard some screams and cries. And I saw the license plate— "

"Wait, you got the license plate number?" he asked me. I nodded slowly. "All of you, come back with me to the station and then as soon as Sammy remembers the number, I'll drop you guys home."

Me, Dot, and Holly piled into the car and we drove back to the police station. When we got there, I described the vehicle to Borsch and gave him the license plate number to look up. Dot sat on the other end of the room on the phone, crying and explaining the whole frightening situation to her parents.

"I know who the vehicle is registered to," he announced.

"So? Who is it registered to then?" I asked him impatiently.

"This 1998 black Dodge caravan is registered to one Roberto Ernesto Paccino. His marriage license says that he is wed to one Courtney Patil Paccino."

**

* * *

****A/N:** I'm soooooo sorry you guys!! I feel like I've let you all down soooo much w/ my absence!! Anyways, I finally won the battle against the mean monster called "writer's block." From now on, I will have my chapters posted at a much quicker time, they will be long, funny, suspenseful, and I vow to finally finish this story by the year's end, okay?? Please review, and in the meantime, I have a lot of catching up with the series. So, I don't know when I'll have the next chapter up, but I promise, I'll be sooner than later. I won't leave you guys hanging with this cliffie for too long. Or will I...

Hmm, we will wait and see!

Review, review, review!! I need to know how I did on my first day back!


	10. Nine: Do We Have a Motive Yet?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Sammy Keyes or none of the characters, places, setting… I only own the plot because I wrote it down for fearing that someone would steal it from me… got it? Good.

**Author's Note:** Holy crap… I haven't had the time to update it and then when I did have the time… I forgot where I put my plot book. Behold, I'm alive and well… thanks for asking. Onward!

**Nine**

Previous Chapter

"I know who the vehicle is registered to," he announced.

"So? Who is it registered to then?" I asked him impatiently.

"This 1998 black Dodge caravan is registered to one Robert Ernesto Paccino. His marriage license says that he is wed to one Courtney Patil Paccino."

* * *

The first thing that came out of our mouths was "OH! You mean like Al Paccino?" Officer Borsch glared at us.

"I mean… Courtney Patil Paccino? Isn't that Miss Patil?" Holly asked us. I nodded. "That's our mean math teacher's name!"

"But wait, I thought that Miss Patil is Heather's maternal aunt. How can she be Miss Patil if Heather's mom is Candi Acosta?"

"But Heather's dad is Warren Acosta. She could've kept her maiden name," I pointed out. Holly shook her head in disgrace.

"Do background searches on him!" Dot shouted.

"Do background searches on _her_!" Holly exclaimed. We all began talking over each other in anger.

"Ladies, _please_!" Officer Borsch said to us. We stopped arguing with one another. "One at a time, please… I've got a headache."

Dot frowned, "well I'm _so sorry_ that we stupid girls are giving you a headache seeing how we're _dead if we come home empty handed_!"

"Patil is her maiden name. Candi Patil Acosta and Courtney Patil Paccino are sisters. Stupid fire engine related devil child mother and aunt!" I mumbled. Officer Borsch gave me a weird look. All I could do was shrug in response to that.

"Then tell me… why in the _actual hell_ is she still teaching? You have got to apprehend her or _something_! She can't just stand there kidnapping brothers and sisters and guardians and what not." Holly stood up, knocking her chair over in anger, face turning red. "She… she… she—" We all turned to her expectantly. Before we knew it, Holly was on her knees sobbing. Dot went to console her by patting her back as I looked at Officer Dad… I mean Borsch.

I meant Borsch.

I can't even imagine thinking how this whole situation must have affected Holly, so I went to give her a hug and stood there. For a while the three of us just sat huddled in each other's embraces. That is, until Officer D… I mean, Borsch cleared his throat harshly.

"Listen ladies, there isn't much that I can do without solid evidence—"

"_Without solid evidence_?" Holly cried. Dot and I glared. Officer… whatever cringed.

"I'm not assigned to this case, so this is _way_ out of my jurisdiction," he explained.

I blinked.

Holly stared.

Dot gaped. "So then _make_ it within your jurisdiction!" We all turned to Dot. "Please?" she added nicely. He sighed. "Please, I'm gonna get in trouble, and Beppie is the more fragile one. If we don't get her back then…" Dot gulped and swallowed her tears, "I dunno how she's gonna survive in the mean clutches of… Miss Patil… Or Paccino… WHATEVER! Just get my sisters back!"

Officer Borsch sighed exasperatedly. We stared at him. "So who went missing so far? Meg and Vera Talbrooks, one Michael Mckenze and Beppie and Anneke Devries, is that all correct?" We didn't answer due to our bafflement. "I think I might know the motive behind all of this."

"So… what would be Miss Patil's motive be? We hate her class so much that decides to kidnap people closest to us?" Dot asked with a frown still plastered on her face.

"I was thinking more along the lines of—"

"Maybe she wants children of her own!" Dot pipes up again, cutting off Officer what's-his-face.

"Actually—"

"Then that would have to rule out Meg _and_ Vera. Well, maybe not Meg; she's young enough to be a surrogate." Holly said. I frowned at her. "What? It's possible!"

"Um, girls? I was thinking more along the lines of—"

"Revenge?" I asked him.

"Now we're talkin'!" he said as he winked at me.

Um…

"Revenge for what? Putting her stinking niece in her stupid place?" Holly asked incredulously.

"Actually," I started, "what I was telling Marissa yesterday was that Miss Patil must really not like us prior to Heather and Casey's party because Meg and Vera went missing _before_ the party, remember?"

"But what could we have done to her though?" Dot asked.

"Ladies, let's not jump to conclusions. We only traced the van back to the husband. It just so happens that Courtney is Roberto's husband," the officer warned us.

I'm running out of names to call this man…

"But—" we all said in unison before he put a hand up.

"Before jumping to conclusions, we need _way_ more information, such as where, _if_ he's really behind it, are they keeping the kidnapped victims."

I blinked.

Dot frowned.

Holly's lips trembled.

But we all sighed in unison and nodded. "I understand Mister Officer Borsch man," Dot said, finally conceding.

"Where am I gonna go?" Holly asked.

Dot patted Holly's back. "Um… I guess you can stay in Anneke and Beppie's room since…" Dot started before her lips trembled. I ushered both Holly and Dot out of Officer Borsch man's office before the waterworks scared him… again.

* * *

After Officer Borsch dropped us all home, up the fire escape I went and was immediately greeted once again by Lady Lana and Dorito. "Hey Dorito!" I said I picked him up and nuzzled him. He purred. "Hello Lady Lana," I said after a full minute of cooing Dorito.

Lady Lana frowned. "Now Samantha, you know that's not a way to acknowledge your own mother," she scolded me. I scoffed and went inside the apartment.

"Hey Grams!" I called out to her. Grams sat down on the couch watching her Jeopardy. Wonderful. "Um…" I started. I looked down. Toed the carpet with my feet. Looked back up to see Lady Lana staring at me. "What?"

"Did Gil offer you to live in his house?"

She's calling him _Gil_ now? Oh just great.

I shrugged at her and put down my book bag. "Well? Did he?" she asked me again.

"What do you care _mom_? It's not like you and Borsch man are gonna get married or anything so just leave me alone about it. My home is with Grams and—"

"He did ask me to marry him first of all. And I care because no matter what, I am still your mother. And I would like to regain custody of you."

"WHAT?" Grams and I shouted. Grams muted the television.

"You can't just do that!" I shouted at her.

"Lana, it's going to be very hard to regain custody of Sammy because you willingly gave her to me," Grams said as calmly as possible.

Lana stomped her foot on the ground. "Honestly mother, do you think that keeping Sammy here _illegally_ in a senior high-rise is beneficial to her growth?" I could swear Grams' face turned red in anger.

Before I knew what was going on, Grams crossed the floor and slapped Lana. I gaped. "How _dare_ you tell me what's good for my granddaughter's growth? You gave her up to pursue an _acting career_! Now that you came back to town and declared yourself the Officer's wife, you _honestly_ think that Sammy would live with the likes of _you_?"

I still couldn't think of anything to say. Lana sniffed. "That's not fair mother. I'm trying to do this the legal way."

"As am I, because I'm going to move by the end of October and Sammy's coming with me!"

"I am?" I asked blankly.

"And where do you think you're going with _my_ daughter?"

"I am going with my _granddaughter_ as her _legal guardian_ to live with Hudson!"

"HUDSON?" I asked as my eyes bugged out.

"No, she's not going to live with that man! She's going to live with her mother and father on East Jasmine!"

"East Jasmine?" I asked again. Holy smokes! That could be right down the street from Marissa!

"She barely _knows_ her father. For that matter she barely knows her own mother! She's living with me and Hudson and that's final!" Grams said with an air of finality. Lana huffed.

"Well then mother, we will see about that. See you in court next week then," she said as she shoved a paper in Grams' hands and left in a huff.

Grams began to mumble to herself as she turned off the T.V and bustled around the kitchen making rice and noodles. Yum.

Not.

I toed the carpet with me feet again, Dorito played with a yarn ball and Grams mumbled to herself again. "Who does she think she is, trying to destroy everything I worked for? After I devoted my life to her all I asked was for her to be a mother to Samantha and she couldn't even do that for her life. Forged the poor girl's birthday so she could go to school early, lied about her father, and abandoned her so she could pursue a stupid _acting_ career. Now she wants to declare herself mother of the year. HA! Over my dead body!"

"Grams?" I tried to call her.

"Stupid, selfish child, I should disown her!"

"Grams?" I tried again.

"That's it… she's out of my will, THAT'S FINAL!"

"Rita Keyes!" I yelled. Grams spun around on one heel and frowned at me.

"Sorry Grams, I've been trying to get your attention," I said feebly.

She sighed and walked over to me. "What is it Samantha?"

"Are you seriously going to move us with Hudson?" Grams stared at me blankly. "That would be _so_ cool Grams, I love Hudson!" I said as I did a dance that could rival the Mckenze dance.

"Oh, Samantha, I wish it were that easy. After all, she is still… 'your mother,' so she could easily provide a more stable environment for you."

I stopped doing my wiggly dance. "What?" I asked in disbelief.

"Look at me Samantha, I'm not getting any younger, you know," she sighed. I blinked.

"And… what does this have to do with me?" I asked her. "Aren't you my legal guardian now? I mean… I know before you weren't, but didn't we go through all of that paper work so you can be my legal guardian?" When Grams didn't answer me, I waved a hand in front of her. "Grams? You _did_ fill out the paper work didn't you? Please tell me you did." It was her turn to blink at me. "_Grams_!"

"I gave the paper work to Hudson to look over!" she finally said. I blinked again. "You can ask him tomorrow where they are. Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to bed. Dealing with Lady Lana takes up one's energy."

"Tell me about it," I mumbled bitterly. Grams kissed me on the forehead and bade me goodnight as I went to watch T.V.

Wait a minute... "Grams!"

"What Samantha?"

"What about dinner?" I asked her. Pause.

"You can cook right?" she asked me. I gaped. Then I sighed and went to make macaroni and cheese with salsa. "Stupid Lady Lana," I mumbled as I bustled around the kitchen making my dinner.

**

* * *

****Author's Note:** It may not be as long as it should have been but it's a start. Once again… I apologize for the wait; life has been crazy and what not. Even though this is mainly a filler chapter, it's important to the plot of the story. Until next time, bye!


	11. Ten: Go Away!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Sammy Keyes because… I don't feel like it… But I do feel like writing a story based on the characters in which the plot I own. YAY!

**Author's Note:** Maybe a chapter filler, may be imperative to the plot… who knows?

**Ten**

The next day at school, posters for class presidency were plastered around the campus. I walked in with my skateboard in hand when I read a poster that said "Run for Class President, Enroll Today!" Ugh, more democracy in this school to make me sick.

And if things couldn't get any worse, there came Heather and her stupid posse of idiots, Tenille and Monet.

"Ugh, Sammy, you're such a _loser_," Tenille said to me.

Why doesn't that surprise me?

Heather smacked Tenille on her shoulder and yelled, "do _not_ talk about Sammy like that or else!"

Okay, _that_ surprises me.

"So Sammy, are you gonna run for class presidency? I think I'll go for 8th grade class treasurer," Heather continued like we were best friends and nothing was out of the ordinary. I blinked.

"Am I gonna run for class _presidency_? I don't think so," I said, trying to not let this bother me.

Heather shrugged. "Oh well, I don't blame you for that. After all… I wouldn't wanna run against two of my own friends," she told me.

"Exact— what?" I asked, almost missing that beat. She shrugged again.

"Don't you know loser?" Monet asked me. Heather slugged her just like she did to Tenille a few minutes before. "I mean… don't you know?" Heather glared at her. "Jeeze Heather, you're so bossy. Don't you know, _Sammy_?" Heather smirked in satisfaction.

"Apparently not, Monet," I said.

"Your friends Holly and Dot signed up for class presidency and your other friend Melissa signed up for class secretary."

"You mean _Marissa_?" I corrected her.

"Whatever, they're your stupid friends!" she continued cautiously, waiting for Heather to correct her again. Heather rolled her eyes.

"Sammy, take it from me," Heather started. I snorted. "I wouldn't wanna pit Holly and Dot against each other in their fragile states."

I blinked.

"I'm serious!" she insisted. I still stared at her. "Oh, c'mon Sammy, like the whole school doesn't know about the kidnappings." She rolled her eye shadow clad eyes at me.

Well, I _didn't_ think the whole school knew about the kidnappings.

"What about _what_ kidnappings?" I asked her with my eyes way bugged out. Just then the bell rang.

"Hmm. I gotta go to class now Sammy, see you later for softball practice," she said. She is _so_ lucky that she was saved by the bell. Stupid Heather Acosta.

"See you later for softball practice?!" I exclaimed out loud. "I don't wanna see you later!" I cried.

"Jeeze Sammy, I don't know what wrong with you but you've gone loopy these days," someone said to me. I turned around to face Dot.

"I wasn't talking about _you_ Dot! I was talking about stupid Heather Acosta!" I actually stomped my foot on the ground in similarity to Lady Lana.

"Oh," she said. Then we walked to homeroom together where Mrs. Ambler wasn't there but instead it was stupid rotten old Miss Patil. Ugh!

"Settle down class, we've a lot to cover today," she said. Huh?

What does _she_ know about world history?

"Today, I have to finish up teaching the lot of you factorials because in my math class, I'm going to give out a midterm tomorrow, so I'm utilizing this time to review with you all, since you all are in my class." Before she even finished her speech, the entire class groaned.

"When is Mrs. Ambler coming back? We honestly don't like you or your teaching," someone asked. We turned around and saw Holly standing up (how did I miss her?) and Marissa doing a seated version of her McKenze dance.

Miss Patil made her way to the back of the classroom. "What did you say little girl?"

Holly stood up even further and said, "Are you deaf? I _said_ we don't like your or your teaching! We want Mrs. Ambler back!"

Miss Patil groaned. "And I would like to have a non-insolent bunch of non-stupid students in my class room. Huh, isn't that strange; we both want something and we're not getting it back anytime soon. Ha! That's wonderful!"

"I bet you planned this out in your crazy head didn't you _Courtney_?" Holly said.

Before the rest of this could turn sour, I scrambled to the back of the classroom and stood in front of Holly, shielding her from Miss Patil's wrath. "Oh, and what is this? Samantha Keyes, thinks she's ultra tough bad ass skin huh?"

"Leave… Holly… _alone_!" I emphasized on her.

"Oh ho ho! Don't tell me you agree with her?"

"In fact I do agree with her!"

"I agree also! You're boring and you're mean!" Tawnee Francisco offered quietly.

"Yeah!" Marissa started, "you're a lousy teacher and an even lousier person, Miss Patil, _if_ that's your real name!"

The class shouted their agreements as she looked horrendously angry.

"Oh yeah, well…" she began.

"Well what?" the class shouted in unison.

"Well then… the whole class is to stay behind for detention!" boomed Mr. Caan.

Just great!

"What?" we all shouted at him.

He fully walked into the classroom with a bunch of pink slips and handed it out to each and every one of us. We all groaned.

"I have softball practice later!" Dot exclaimed.

Mr. Caan snarled, "Well, you and your fellow classmates should've thought about that before being insolent little brats to dear Miss Patil, right?"

We all gaped at him. "Mr. Caan sir?" Tawnee asked him gently.

"What is it Miss Francisco?"

She sighed exasperatedly. "With all due respect sir, you're really starting to suck too."

Scattered giggled erupted in the room and watching him turn red in the face was actually a sight to behold. "I'll deal with you later Miss Francisco."

"Ooh, I'm _so_ scared," she said sarcastically. Without further adieu, Tawnee ripped up the pink slip and threw it on the floor haphazardly. "You won't see me because I have to go to the doctor's. So there!" she yelled and ran out of the classroom with her books in tow. Needless to say, that was very interesting.

Very interesting indeed.

* * *

On our way to math class with Miss Patil where we had no choice but to listen to her and stupid factorials, Holly walked besides me, Dot and Marissa with an angry face.

"I just wanna punch something so badly! I freaking hate that stupid Courtney Patil woman!" she said through gritted teeth. Without warning, Holly punched what she thought was the wall outside Miss Patil's room. It was Monet, sans Heather. "Oh my goodness, I'm _so_ sorry," Holly said. Even weirder than Holly apologizing, Monet ran off in tears.

Dot looked to where Monet ran off to. "Did that just _happen_?" she asked, completely flabbergasted.

Holly really did look remorseful. "You see that? Gah, that woman grinds my rails!" Holly said before she rushed into class.

Holly did manage to save us some seats in the back for us so we took them. Unfortunately, I got the seat next to the one that Tenille was saving for Heather.

Just great.

When Miss Patil walked in the room right behind the fire engine herself, a wave of boos started, Holly being the loudest. Marissa even threw a balled up piece of paper at her.

"_Marissa_!" I scolded her. She shrugged in response. I couldn't help but chuckle when she looked up in confusion though.

"Very nice class, settle down, I forgot to read the announcements in your homeroom," she said. Just then, Billy Pratt walked up to the front of the classroom and snatched the paper from her.

"Oi class, listen up! Sixth grade nominees for class presidency… okay… no bueno," he said. We laughed at him. "Seventh grade!" he boomed. "Wait a minute; I don't care about seventh graders, them lousy snot nosed buggers!" We all laughed at him. "Okay, here we go, nominees for eighth grade Secretary are Marissa McKenze and Tulip Talindo."

"Who the hell is Tulip?" Marissa wondered out loud.

"Nominees for eighth grade class Treasurer are Heather Acosta and _Sammy Keyes_?" he asked. I jumped out of my seat.

"What?" Heather and I asked at the same time.

Heather rounded on me. "I thought we were trying to turn a new leaf Sammy! I thought you weren't gonna run for anything!"

"Well… me neither!" I said.

"You did this for payback from last year aren't you?" she asked with a frown (really?) on her face. She actually made me start feeling bad.

"But I'm not! I swear!" I yelled.

Heather let out a huge sigh. "Fine, I believe you Sammy. Good luck I guess," she said somberly.

What?!

Billy clapped twice and stood on Miss Patil's desk. "Boy, get your nasty feet—" Miss Patil started.

"Shush! I have the floor now woman!" he said theatrically. "Okay, anyways, nominees for eighth grade class President are… drum rolls please?" A boy with shaggy brown hair and blue eyes drummed his fingers on his desk. "Holly Janquel and Margaret Devries. Wait a minute, who is Margaret Devries?"

Holly let out a strangled cry. "Dot?!"

"Yay!" she said. Billy looked confused.

"Billy! Dot is Margaret," I said to him.

Billy had an 'O' on his face. I had to laugh at him.

"Dot?" Holly called her again. Dot looked up from her mini victory dance. "How _could_ you!" she yelled.

Dot really did look confused at that point. I buried my hands in my face. Marissa groaned. "Oh boy," she said.

Dot frowned at Holly. "How could I what? Run for class presidency?"

"Yes!" Holly yelled at her. "You knew I wanted to go for that since I can't go for softball captain!"

"I didn't know that you wanted to run for class presidency! Honestly!" Dot said, raising her voice.

"You so did!" Holly kept yelling at her. Dot stood up from her seat.

"I did not!" Dot yelled.

"You _so_ did!" Holly practically screamed.

"DID NOT!"

"SO DID!"

"I DID NOT KNOW!"

"YOU SO DID KNOW DOT! YOU KNEW THE WHOLE TIME!"

"ARE YOU BLOODY PARANOID? I DID NOT KNOW!"

"STOP IT!" Marissa screamed at the both of them. Before either one of them could utter another word, the bell rung for fourth period.

"Well… this class was very helpful, THANKS A LOT!" Heather yelled as she packed up her belongings and ran out of the room as fast as her high heels could take her.

* * *

At lunch, things took a turn for the worst. Danny decided that he wanted to visit Marissa, plus Dot and Holly probably aren't talking to each other anymore, so if I sit with one, the other will think me a traitor and will try to make me choose her over the other one.

Ugh!

I was gonna go to an empty table but Tawnee and her friends got to it first. Crap.

I was literally gonna go suffer in the cold when someone called out to me. I turned around and ran smack dab into Casey himself.

He held out a hand to steady me from falling. Boy, did he look good today (**A/N:** Sammy drools) He had on a black and white striped polo shirt and regular jeans and black and white converses. "Uh… hi there Casey," I mumbled, trying not to blush.

"Hey Sammy!" he said as he gave me a hug. I pinched myself. Hard.

"Ouch! Dammit!" I said out loud.

Casey's face did a 180 fast. "Did I hurt you Sammy? I'm sorry if I did… I didn't—"

I laughed but not in a mean way. "It's okay Casey, I was just pinching myself to see if you really came to see a snot nosed eighth grader." I blushed.

He smiled at me. I grinned stupidly. Toed the floor with my blue and white high tops. "So," he said.

"So," I answered back to him. He still smiled. "What are you doing here again?"

Casey blushed. That's right, big old macho man Casey blushed. "I was wondering if you decided you wanted to go the Halloween dance at my school yet."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Huh? What dance?"

Casey shook his head at me. I stared in his chocolate brown eyes and willed my knees not to buckle.

Don't do it, don't do it, don't do it!

"Sammy?"

Huh?

"Don't do what?" Casey asked me. I looked around in confusion. "Are you okay Sammy?"

Uh, I don't know.

"I'm confused," I said finally, I think.

"So am I," he said. Then we both started cracking up; he slapped his knees and I doubled over. After we finished laughing, he gave me another hug and said, "I guess you didn't make up your mind yet, so I'll ask Heather to ask you what you think when you're ready. You… you _are_ friends with Heather now, right?"

I shrugged. "I don't know," I said honestly. He nodded and gave me one last hug and called out to Danny, letting him know he was ready to leave.

"See ya Sammy!" he said as he had to drag Danny away from Marissa.

"Isn't he awesome Sammy?" Marissa asked me as she wrapped her arm around my shoulders and stared at Danny. I gave her a weird look. "What?"

I shook my head in disbelief. "Casey said that he was gonna tell Heather to ask me if I wanna go to the dance with him at his school. I wanna know what the actual _hell_ is he thinking? Why didn't he say something like 'I'll ask Danny to ask Marissa to ask you if you still wanna go to the dance with me'?"

"Oh Sammy you naïve girl… it's because Heather's your new friend! Actually… I think she's a better friend than I am to you, don't ya think?"

What?!

Just then, Holly came over to me and said, "Sammy, stop it! Wake up!"

"I'm not sleeping!"

"Yes you are! Wake up girl!"

"I'M NOT SLEEPING!" I screamed.

When I looked around, there was no Casey in sight. In fact, Marissa told me that after I found the empty seat I put my head down on the desk and drifted. For how long? Who knows?

"What the—" I asked in confusion. I looked around and Marissa was staring at me like I was crazy. "Where's Danny?"

Marissa frowned. "He wasn't at school today. His mom said he was sick," she responded slowly. I then frowned too.

"But… didn't he—" I was gonna ask again before she stopped me and shook her head. I sighed. "I give up," I said dejectedly.

Just then Holly came up to us and began to complain about Dot. Oh, so that part was real. "I still can't believe the nerve of Dot to do that to me! I knew she was gonna sign up for softball Captain but I wasn't expecting her to sign up for class President either! This is so unlike her and I'm not gonna speak to her for the rest of the school year. Or… until I win class president, whichever comes first," she ranted on and on.

"But I'm so sure that—" I began.

"Dot knew! SHE KNEW! I see what her ploy is; she's trying to compete with me in everything. My guardians get kidnapped, and then all of a sudden, her twin sisters go missing. Then on top of that, I run for class president, and then next thing you know, so does she! Why is that?" Marissa and I shrugged. I rolled my eyes when Holly wasn't looking and Marissa started doing the McKenze dance for real. When I followed her line of vision, Dot was making her way to us.

"Can you believe the nerve of Holly? For her to accuse me of trying to steal her thunder. WHAT THUNDER!" she yelled at us. Holly rounded on her and started huffing and puffing. "You think I _wanted_ to have Beppie and Anneke kidnapped? You think I ran for class president to 'steal your thunder'? Well I didn't, and I would _never_ do that to you and you should know that!"

"How do I know what to think of you anymore? For all we know, you could be behind Heather's wonky behavior. I bet you convinced her to try to act nice to Sammy just so she can embarrass her in some stupid Heather Acosta way huh Dot?"

Huh?

"Huh?" Marissa asked.

"What?!" Dot yelled.

I frowned. "Holly," I asked her gently.

"What?" she yelled at me.

I blinked. "Well… forget it if you're just gonna yell at me and whatnot," I said as I got up to throw my lunch away. I walked away from Dot and Holly who began to argue again as I went to wander around the cafeteria. I still can't believe I had a daydream about Casey _again_! I must be going crazy or something.

_Maybe crazy for him_.

"Shut up!" I said to myself loudly.

Someone grumbled. "Well then Sammy, if you're gonna tell me to shut up when I didn't even say anything to you yet then you can forget about my slumber party," someone said to me.

I turned around to face Heather Acosta herself. "Uh," I managed to say after blinking at her. She glared at me. That's a normal Heather Acosta thing to do so I was partially relieved.

"Why are you being mean to me Sammy? I barely said two words to you and—"

"Heather, shush for a sec," I told her. She gasped in horror (I rolled my eyes at her) but she did shut up for a second. "Anyways, I was talking to myself when I said shut up; I didn't know I had to have eyes in the back of my head to know if you were there or not. Jeeze Heather, gimme a break!"

"Well I'm _sorry_ Sammy! I was just coming over to ask you if you wanted to come to my slumber party on Saturday."

"You're inviting me to your slumber party?" I asked dumbfounded.

"That _is_ what I said Sammy," she said to me bitterly. I still blinked at her. "So, do you wanna come or not? It's this Saturday and Sunday and then—"

"Is Holly, Dot and Marissa invited as well?" I blurted out. It was her turn to blink at me.

Heather began to do her famous Heather Acosta cackle. _That's_ what I've been waiting for this whole year! I was hoping that—

"I don't want that stupid girl Holly or Dotty or Missy to come. I asked you because I want _you_ there. Plus my dad said that if I don't stop being mean to you he was gonna send me to Santa Martina Junior high. I mean, bleh!"

Oh, so _that's_ her angle. Either she is going to go to Santa Martina Junior High or she has to be friends with me. And trust me, I actually don't blame her for choosing the latter of the two. I mean, come on! It's in that bad part of the neighborhood and uh, Snake eyes lives around there. I visibly shuddered.

"So you don't like Santa Martina Junior High?" I asked her.

"NO! Hell no I don't, bleh! And Casey doesn't like there either. And he _hates_ the high school over there too! Then again, he's a loser so, yeah," she said. I actually agreed with her up until the last part about Casey being a loser. He isn't a loser, he's just… I don't know, confused. "So you wanna come or not? I have to let my mom know by Friday so she and my aunt Courtney could—"

"Your aunt Courtney is going to be there? As in, Miss Patil?!" I asked. My eyes bugged _way_ out.

"Shush! And yes, she's helping to chaperone because mom is technically serving parole. Can you say _stupid_?"

"And you don't want Dot, Marissa or Holly to come?" I asked again.

"No, thanks. I'm trying to keep the loser count to a minimum."

I had only one choice to make…

"Oh, I'm sorry Heather, I can't come then. See, the thing is that my Grams, she uh… needs help with… pouring cement and—"

"_Pouring cement_? You're blowing off a slumber party to _pour cement_?" she asked incredulously.

Yeah that was kinda lame wasn't it? Using the same excuse that I used on Marissa back in June? Yikes!

Heather shrugged. "I understand if you don't wanna go Sammy, that's fine. I don't know what to do to get you to go but… I'll figure it out."

I actually felt a pang of guilt, but me plus Heather minus Dot, Holly, _and_ Marissa? That equals a not so nice equation. "I'm really sorry Heather," I said sincerely this time. "Plus, I really wanted my friends to be invited, but uh, if you think they're loser, then I must be one too. After all, they hang out with _me_."

"I'll see what I can do then," she said in exasperation just as the bell rang, signaling that lunch was over.

Now that I know exactly what Heather is up to, I have to use this info to my own advantage.

Heather Acosta, you're _so_ busted!

**

* * *

****Author's Note:** And that's the end of that chapter! Next chapter, someone else is getting kidnapped. Does anyone wanna guess who? I'll give you a cookie. Till next time, ta-ta for now.


	12. Eleven: Still No Motives? Part One

**Disclaimer:** All righty… again… I don't own Sammy Keyes. I only own Tulip Talindo… she's mines… cause I said so. So there!

**Author's Note:** OMG I finally read "Wild Things" and "Cold Hard Cash." Wow… Heather is a mess… I swear! Luckily, she's actually trying to be calm in my story. Anyways, onward!

**Eleven**

You know what I just realized? It's been five days since I've had my stupid… menstrual thingy (ugh!) and so much has happened. Stupid menstrual… thingy!

Holly and Dot aren't talking, Marissa spends more time with Danny than us, Heather's trying to be my new best friend and things with Miss Patil are getting weirder and weirder as the days go by. Plus, Lady Lana is trying to get me to live with her.

As I was riding my skateboard to school, I thought about the conversation that Lady Lana tried to have with me.

* * *

_"Samantha, I understand that you're getting to be a big girl now and there is a time in your life where you have to make an important decision. Either you want to take that next step into womanhood or you still wanna live in your little childhood fantasy."_

_"What?" I asked her flabbergasted._

_"Samantha, I would really love it if you came to live with me and your father," she continued as though I hadn't said anything._

_I frowned at her. "You left me with Grams so you could be the Gas Away lady. Are you kidding me right now?"_

_She sighed dramatically and tapped her foot on the pavement (I should mention that she stopped me in the middle of my climbing up the fire escape). I rolled my eyes at her. "I understand that Samantha—"_

_"Stop! Stop calling me Samantha! It's annoying. It's Sammy," I told her firmly._

_"But I named you Samantha for a reason," she said._

_"And I prefer to be called Sammy for that reason; you can even call me Sams and I hate that one too, but not Samantha!" She sighed again. Lady Lana was about to open her mouth to say something but I interrupted her. "As I was saying calmly before, you practically dumped me with Grams so you could pursue an acting career. Do you honestly think it was fair to do that to me? And do you honestly think it's fair now for you to try to whisk me away from her just because it's convenient for you? I don't think so—"_

_"Sammy! Come on up child, you're already half an hour late!" Grams called down to me. I looked up to see her cuddling a confused and disoriented Dorito and frowning. I hope she was frowning at her and not me._

_"Samantha," my mom started._

_"You heard my legal guardian. I'm half an hour late getting home," I told her. She frowned at Grams. Grams furrowed her eyebrows even more._

_"Lana, this conversation can wait. Samantha, upstairs now!"_

_I sighed. "Coming Grams!" I rolled my eyes and re-entered the fire escape._

_"Hey! You let her call you Samantha!" Lady Lana said to me._

_"Does this even matter?" I yelled back as I reached the fifth floor landing and met up with Grams._

* * *

When I finally got to school, Heather, Tenille, Monet, _and_ Casey seemed like they were waiting for me. Oh boy.

Literally.

"Sammy!" Heather and Casey both said to me. They turned to glare at each other spitefully before turning back to smile at me. Oh boy, oh boy!

I inwardly cringed and walked over to them. I fought the urge to both blush and roll my eyes and say, "Hey Casey, hey Heather."

Casey winked and Heather waved back. "Okay, here's the deal Sammy," Heather started.

"Oh boy, here we go," Casey said as he rolled his eyes.

"Shut up! Anyways, hey Sammy, I've thought about it and I'll let Missy come, but I'm not sure about Dot or Holly."

"Why not?" I practically whined. Oh my goodness, I hate Lady Lana, I'm turning into her!

"Because, I don't want any cat fights. How could you not know they're still not talking to each other?"

I turned around at that moment to see Holly talking and laughing with Billy Pratt as Dot tripped Holly. Holly went down on the ground with her books and Dot smirked. I cringed.

"Oh," was all I could muster up.

"Exactly," she said to me. Casey shook his head in disbelief.

"I guess if they can make up before tomorrow then they both could come," he said to me as he stared at me. Please don't stare at me, Casey. "Sorry… I didn't mean to stare."

"I, uh… huh?" I said to him.

Heather laughed however. "Ha, ha, loser she told you to stop staring at her."

I rolled my eyes and blushed while Casey grumbled to himself. "Shut up Heather!" She shrugged.

"So are you gonna come Sammy?" she asked me.

"Yeah Sammy are you gonna come? I'd like you and Marissa there, because Billy and Danny are going to be there and stuff. Probably Nick would be there too, remember Nick?"

"And we're gonna have food and games there," Monet said slightly nasally.

"And then we're gonna talk about how stupid boys are," Heather said while she glared at Casey. Casey grinned sheepishly.

I was about to respond to all of them before Marissa walked up to me and tapped my shoulder. I turned around to say something to her before I took a double take. Her face was red and she was wearing yet another Yolanda McKenze outfit. "So Sammy, are you gonna go to the sleepover? Heather told me that Danny was gonna be there."

Casey shrugged nonchalantly. "He said he _might_ be there, I can't tell you that for sure Missy," he said to her. She shrugged too.

"So are you gonna go Sammy?" Heather asked me.

"Yeah are you gonna go Sammy?" Marissa asked me.

"I—"

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?" Heather asked me again. Casey rolled his eyes again for the third time.

"Stop it, STOP IT!" I yelled while covering my ears in horror. This was like the bird incident after the whole Tango fiasco. "Casey, as much as I would like to go, I'm not going." I turned to Marissa and I told her, "I'm not going without Holly and Dot; I don't care if Danny's gonna be there, my word is final." I turned to Heather and said, "And if you think I'm just gonna submit to your plans to try to be my friend, then you've got another thing comin'!"

Marissa rolled her eyes, Casey shook his head and Heather looked defeated. "Well then Sammy, do you think that you would still… you know, go to my Halloween dance with me? I still have two weeks but I need to coordinate my uh… Halloween costume with yours," he said while blushing. I sighed heavily.

"Casey, I'm just not sure if I'm up for any of that kind of thing right now. With school and softball practice and this other thing I've got going on… I just can't do anything right now. I'm sorry," I told him sadly. His face went downcast and he bit his lip thoughtfully. "Aww Case—" I started.

He shook his head at me disdainfully. "Don't worry about it Sammy, I understand completely. I really do," he said but it sounded sarcastic.

Why me?

"But Casey—" I started up again but he just walked right past me. I didn't even get a goodbye from him. This really bites. I sighed again and walked past Heather and her cronies with Marissa. Did I mention that under her coat Marissa was wearing a flowery tank top?

"Sammy, I think everything's gonna be okay. I promise you," she said while she led me to the lockers and I shoved my skateboard in there hastily. I pounded my head on the locker after I closed it and fought the urge to cry. I sniffled out of habit. "Are you crying?"

I tried to smile but it came out wrong. "I think so." She was about to ask me again when the waterworks started. "I just have _so much stress_ with everything! Lady Lana's driving me up the wall with her 'come live with me and your father on East Jasmine' and then, Casey—"

"Hold up a second. _East Jasmine_? Is she crazy or something? I mean, yeah that would be cool because we could be right down the block from us but still… bleh!"

"And then Casey's probably never gonna talk to me ever again because he likes me a _lot_ and I don't know how to feel about him! And I can't take it when any of my friends are fighting and there goes Holly and Dot fighting and I just feel like…" I said as I wailed on Marissa's shirt. Marissa being the greatest friend ever didn't even stop me after I ruined her (mother's) shirt.

"Let it all out Sammy, let it all out," she said soothingly to me. After a few minutes, I calmed down enough to look at her. "Sammy, as I said, everything's gonna be all right, I promise. You're just having a week from hell. Trust me, it's gonna get even worse as we grow up. Every month, you're gonna have a hell filled week but you know what? You're Samantha Jo Keyes! You can do this! You've fought liars and thieves and straight up thugs! You have saved _my_ life, Holly's life, hell! You saved a complete stranger and her son's life, _plus_ you've exposed liars for what they're good for! You're amazing! If you can do all of that, then you can get through your period, trust me. Because, I _said_ so," she told me. I laughed at her.

"Was I wrong for telling Casey that I didn't feel like going?" I asked her as we walked to homeroom. She shook her head. "Maybe when everything dies down because then maybe I could focus more on—" Without warning, I was pushed forcefully to the ground, my books spilling all over each other. "What the hell?" I yelled at Holly.

Holly had a huge frown on her face. "Oh man, I'm sorry Sammy, I thought you were Dot! See, you guys look alike from the back," she explained as she helped me with my books and Marissa helped me up. I scowled at her. "I really am sorry, but I saw Dot trip me. She actually _tripped_ me! In front of Billy no less! Gah!"

I know Holly, I saw her trip you too. I hope I'm not talking out loud again.

She sighed as I kept my distance from her. We walked into homeroom and saw Miss Patil talking to Heather about something. Oh boy. But Heather looked like she was into what she was saying because she smiled and just regularly talked to her like nothing was out of the blue. I saw Heather give her a hug and go to her seat right when we were about to walk in. Right then and there, her face went from cheerful to scornful all over again. I rolled my eyes at her. She shook her head at me.

Oh brother!

* * *

"So class," she said politely. We all looked at her sourly. "I finally got a hold on Mrs. Ambler's syllabus for the class. According to this syllabus, you guys are supposed to be talking about the various Chinese dynasties?"

We all blinked at her.

She blinked back at us. "What?"

I rolled my eyes as Holly made a big fuss in front of the room about her trying to take Mrs. Ambler's place. I miss her and her love birds Tango (that I accidently killed) and Hula. I visibly pouted before something interrupted my thoughts. Actually… some_one_.

"Excuse me… Sammy?" she asked. I visibly cringed at the sound of Heather's voice shaking me out of my reverie.

I turned my head to her cautiously. "Yes?"

"They're going to announce the school's presidency this afternoon. During lunch you have to prepare a speech as to why you think you should get class Treasurer over me."

I frowned. "I didn't even _want_ this! I wanted to be softball captain!"

She patted my shoulder, in similarity to how Marissa would have. Or if it was Casey. I shuddered again. She was being too nice. _Way_ too nice. There should be a crime against being this nice, _especially_ if you're Heather Acosta.

What am I gonna do? "Are you gonna run for class Treasurer then?" Heather asked me. I shrugged. "Boy, I actually can't _wait_ for this afternoon; announcements, assemblies and then softball. I managed to convince Coach to let me back on the team since, you know, I'm not at Santa Martina Junior High? Isn't that cool?" Before I could utter a word of protest, she continued, "I absolutely _promise_ not to mess us up for the Championships again! You have my word!" She then crossed her fingers over her heart.

"Heather, what are you doing?" Miss Patil decided to interrupt the class with. Heather scowled as Miss Patil shook her head and continued to drone on and on about more stupid Chinese dynasties. Just then the greatest idea popped into my head. I started writing on a few pieces of paper furiously, making it seem like I was taking down notes.

_TBC_

**

* * *

****A/N:** Okay I had to end it here because it was gonna be too long and I needed to figure out some stuff. Which brings me to my next point: for a girl band singing group thingy, what should I name the girl band? The choices are: a) Simple Solace, b) Subtle Chill or c) Solid Fate? Pick and choose wisely my friends; I'm only giving a few days for this because I don't wanna have people waiting on me anymore so yeah. Toodles!


End file.
